Yellowknife hosts its first open beach volleyball tourney

Two Yellowknife siblings are working to make volleyball more than just a sport by increasing participation and expanding a local club’s reach.

Tamara Mathison, born and raised in the city, has been playing volleyball for just under a decade. With both of her parents being coaches, she spent a lot of time in the gym growing up.

Tamara said previous organizers of the Yellowknife Beach Volleyball Club passed on that role to Chris, her older brother, a few years ago. Since then, the two have been trying to get people on board.

“It’s always a struggle here to get athletes out,” she told Cabin Radio. “I don’t know why – lots of people travel in the summer, but yeah, we’ve been trying to get the beach to be more popular here in Yellowknife.”

This year, Tamara and Chris are delivering private lessons for youth players while training for the Canada Summer Games, scheduled from August 8 to 25 in St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Tamara explained there is no formal registration to be involved with the club, and it’s open to anyone interested in participating.

The club holds practice sessions three times a week and has hosted four annual tournaments consistently over the past few years, along with a few youth camps.

“Ideally, we want to get the club as big as possible and be able to host events that match events down south,” she said, noting the club has upgraded its courts with new nets to meet national standards.

This weekend, the club hosted its first open beach volleyball tournament.

Six girls’ teams competed in the youth tournament on Saturday. The club arranged a skill development session the same morning, led by coaches from the Canada Summer Games team.

Originally, a boys’ youth tournament was also planned. However, due to lower registration numbers, those participants joined the men’s division on Sunday instead.

The adult tournament featured eight men’s teams and five women’s teams. Organizers had capped participation at eight teams per division. Overlander Sports provided gift cards for the winners.

“It’s open to anyone who wants to participate. It’s for all ages and just a big tournament for everyone to come out and play,” Tamara said.

“In the past, we’ve had to cancel tournaments but we’ve done lots of social media work to really get the message out there. Chris and I have lots of connections for other athletes in town.

“Anybody we see out on the courts, we’re like, ‘Hey, you should follow us and come sign up for the tournaments.'”

All photos in this article by Aastha Sethi/Cabin Radio.