GREENVILLE – The Greenville Green Wave volleyball program hosted a four-day Club Volleyball Tournament at the Greenville K-8 facility. The event spans two weekends and includes 48 teams from the Ohio Valley Region coming to Greenville.
“What’s nice about hosting is that it gives some of our players and other local area players a chance to play close to home and for their families, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to watch them,” said Greenville head varsity volleyball coach Michelle Hardesty. “We get asked a lot about the ‘local joint that sells the amazing sandwiches’, Maid Rites, and where it’s located, so I think our efforts bring some revenue to the community as well.”
The tournaments serve as a fundraiser for the Greenville volleyball program and serves as a clean event that gets athletes involved.
“It’s really important to involve the players for so many reasons; responsibility, accountability, build character, team bonding and of course, it’s the players that benefit from the funds raised,” said Coach Hardesty. “We ask for a few hours of a player and parents’ time on these weekends vs having them go out and sell something, and it involves our sport.”
The event would not be possible without the help of parents, the community, and the support of Greenville School Staff.
“I can’t thank the volleyball staff enough for all they do during these tournaments to keep them running smoothly,” Hardesty stated. “They are long days but well worth the effort.”
“Team parent Marlo Bryson takes care of the concession stand and commits a lot of time and energy to its success. We get compliments every year on how well the tournament is run, how great our facilities are, and that we have the best concession stand.”
“Our parents show up and pitch in as well,” Hardesty added. “The school administration has been so supportive. “We’d like to thank Mr. Fries and the Athletic Department for allowing us to run these tournaments. Thank you to Middle School Principal Mr. Mortenson for working with us, the custodians that are there right along with us all day, and the maintenance crew that had the parking lots cleared for us.”
Many expenses are involved in running a large Club Volleyball Tournament including preparation for a concession stand which is costly to set up.
“We’ve had some very generous supporters over the years with MJS Plastics leading the way every year,” Hardesty noted. “There are so many to thank, Dairy King, Dr. Trimble, Badge’s BBQ, Loudy Office Machines, Dickman Supply, and MJS are some of our major contributors this year.”
“Thank you to the parents that have donated items, and to Ace Hardware for the popcorn,” Hardesty added. “I apologize if I’m missing someone, please know we are extremely grateful for all the help and donations that make these tournaments a success.”
The Greenville volleyball program has six courts and is getting new net systems for both the junior high and high school programs.
“What we do here supports all that and uniforms, balls, coaching boxes, so many different things that we can purchase to keep our program at the top,” said Coach Hardesty.
“We have a lot of Greenville athletes that get mixed in with a lot of our area athletes from Arcanum, Ansonia, Versailles, Tri-Village, and Fort Loramie,” said Greenville assistant volleyball coach, Jim Hardesty. “The tournament helps our athletes we mix in with our Greenville girls and helps get them better. The school does a great job of letting us run these tournaments. Everybody loves coming here.”
The next Club Volleyball Tournament at Greenville will be held the weekend is March 23 & 24.
