Year two of the JCI Penticton Peach Fest Beach Volleyball Tournament fired up this past weekend and there's little doubt the event is gaining traction.
Debuting at last year's Peach Fest, the tournament, held at the impressive outdoor volleyball court complex at Skaha Lake Park, seemed like a natural for a summery Penticton festival.
But it didn’t quite set the world on fire out of the gate.
In 2022, just eight teams signed up and they were all plunked into one division. So, the family next door got to compete with a squad of elite athletes. Not a ton of fun for anyone.
But this year 14 teams registered, nearly double the number. And tournament organizers created two divisions -- one that was "Competitive" and one that was "Non-Competitive." A seemingly far more sensible format, with six teams ultimately entering the former and eight the latter.
And when PentictonNow dropped by Saturday afternoon for the round-robin portion, we liked what we saw -- a broad grouping of people of all ages having what looked to be a lot of fun, on and off the courts. And some pretty high-level volleyball.
But the new tournament boss is looking to eventually develop something even grander than that.
"We'd love to make this another Peach Fest destination," said committee chair Stuart Knott, a crop protection supervisor at the Summerland Research and Development Centre when he's not running volleyball competitions.
"Everyone (at the Peach Festival) goes to Okanagan Lake, so we'd love to bring a lot more of them down to Skaha."
Knott knows turning a friendly little tournament into a Peach Fest force is a tall order, but he's happy with incremental upgrades.
"We nearly doubled the number of teams this year through a lot of hard work," he said. "We decided to interact a bit more with the local volleyball association and to keep promoting it.
"We also ran a beverage garden in the first year but ran into some (practical) struggles with it. It takes an immense amount of planning and volunteers to operate, and this year we decided to focus solely on volleyball and build great value for the teams.
"But we've learned a lot, and hopefully part of our future development will be bringing back the beverage garden."
Knott would love to see more spectators too. And in that regard a beverage garden isn’t the only thing on his dream wish list. Also making the list are food trucks, entertainment, and maybe even some small grandstands.
"If Peach Fest wants more entertainment down here, JCI Penticton will work with them to do that," he said. "I'd love to max out our teams and have a lot of spectators watching. We have the lake right here. So everyone can take swim breaks."
For the record, a squad of talented young guns calling themsleves "Unprotected Sets" (see the photo above) won the Competitive Division, followed by Sun Setters and Sets of the Beach. In the Non-Competitive Division, it was The Dig Lebowski on top, followed by FYI Balls and Bumping Uglies.
Anyone can enter the JCI Penticton Peach Fest Beach Volleyball Tournament. Each team needs four players on the court at any one time including a minimum of one female, but teams of six are recommended to facilitate substitutions and rotations.
The per-team entry fee is $175 for the Non-Competitive Division and $225 for the Competitive Division.
For more info on the tourney or to sign up when 2024 registration opens May 1st, go here. For more info on JCI Penticton, go here.
