2009 AirVorne Volleyball Season in Review

If there was one word to help describe the season for AirVorne Volleyball, it would be ‘reconnection’. It has been almost 2 years since AirVorne Volleyball hosted a tournament to the volleyball community. During those years, other organizations and individuals continued to serve the volleyball community through tournaments. When I brought AirVorne back, I realized that the community I remembered had gotten older (me included) and that there were new players for all over coming into our social network. I knew that I had some work to do in getting back in touch with everyone which was my goal for this season.

AirVorne Volleyball – website:
One of the biggest ventures since AirVorne was established back in 2000 was the creation of www.airvorne.com. Again, all credit for the website goes to Jordan Robinson, a former Atlanta resident whose talent helped AirVorne regain some recognition to the volleyball community from all over the nation. The visions he had with his web design skills along with the information for AirVorne has created a fun-filled website with information about the happenings of the volleyball community. Of course, this is not easy to do as far as keeping up with the most current happenings of the volleyball community. Also would like to give special thanks to Venable Photography for the outstanding photos throughout the entire season. As the saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Thanks Will. My goal for the website is to become a central point of information for all Atlanta volleyball events/tournaments. Your feedback will be crucial in getting whatever information you have to share with the volleyball community.

AirVorne Tournaments:
This year, AirVorne Volleyball had 12 tournament formats total…most of them sand tournaments. One of the major problems was that the outdoor schedule for AirVorne Volleyball was not established early on. With the incorporation of AirVorne Volleyball back in May, I had a late start in establishing a schedule for the summer. Another important factor in establishing the schedule was wondering what the volleyball community wanted. The last AirVorne tournament was back in 2006…it was a King/Queen of the Grass Format at Osborne Park that was stopped by the Deputy Director of Dekalb County at that time. Luckily for us, he is no longer there. Some of you guys might remember that incident. In September of this year, I met with some key players of the volleyball community to talk about the overall 2009 spring/summer season. One of the big issues we talked about was the level of play for each division and having a rating system established. The point system that AirVorne established was not really put to the test this summer since the schedule was not established although the Women’s Sand Series did show some signs of ranking within the female athletes. Overall, Sheila Gatlin showed her amazing consistent talent on the court and came out on top of the Women’s Sand Series. Congratulations, Sheila not only for your talent/sportsmanship on the court but also for your leadership to all female players of all levels; that leadership was shown during the Mix/Match Tournament back in June. Most of the sand tournaments were held at Piedmont Park and/or Virginia Highlands. Special thanks to the Piedmont Park Conversancy and the Sand Committee at the Highlands for their partnership throughout the season. The most popular tournament format of this past season was the Coed Sand tournaments due to the social aspect of having everyone there.

Sand Camps for the Kids:
Everyone in the volleyball community knows by now about ‘Sand Volleyball’ being incorporated in the collegiate level for women. When the AVP came to Atlanta this past May, they started a new venture to help support ‘Sand Volleyball’ – AVP Juniors, a sand camp for juniors. With this came an opportunity for AirVorne Volleyball to continue this education/coaching by offering our own sand camp/clinic for girls. AirVorne Volleyball is proud to say that we were the first to offer this opportunity to the local kids. Kim Dalimonte, Director of Youth Programs, did a fantastic job in recruiting and marketing our first camp given the time frame. One of the biggest marketing success Kim was responsible for was having our own booth at the AVP Atlanta which help get AirVorne back on the map. During the camps, Coach Kim’s leadership throughout the entire program proved to be successful with the kids and the parents. Special thanks to you, Kim for an outstanding and successful program that I am proud to have with AirVorne Volleyball.

2010 Season – Bigger and Better:
As the 2009 outdoor season finally comes to a close for AirVorne Volleyball, I look forward to next year and creating more opportunities for the volleyball community. Here are some of the opportunities that I am working presently:

Dig 4 Kids/Atlanta: After-School Program for Kids.
AVPNext Barefoot Wine Series: League for the Elite – the opportunity for AVP San Francisco
Cheyenne Grille: Future sponsor for the volleyball community
AirVorne’s Superstore: Online Volleyball Store

These are just some of the items I am working on for next year. I would also like to thank and look forwarding to supporting the AVP organization in their ventures. Special thanks to Jason Hodell, CEO of the AVP, and Jonpaul Roepke, AVPNext Manager for their support with AirVorne Volleyball.

See you guys on the court…next year.

Dennis Jocson
AirVorne Volleyball, LLC.