Beach volleyball is a seasonal sport. So they say. You need the right weather, it won’t work in cold climates, it’s meant to be played outdoors. That’s the way it’s always been.
For the originators of the sport, from Hawaii, California, and Brazil, this was logical. For them it’s always beach season, they seldom face temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, which will generally cause them to shut everything down. Canadians, on the other hand, thrive in all conditions. Thanks to Indoor Beach facilities like 6Pack and Beach YYC, it’s always beach season for us too.
Vancouver’s just had possibly their best summer of beach volleyball to date, highlighted by the BC, KBVA and KWVC Tours, and capped off with the most competitive Vancouver Open of all time. So why stop there? The summer may mean the end for Tour season, but it signals the beginning of the 2020 NBVL season. Ryan Gandy, Jana Weir, Alexander Harvalias, and Aly McKay‘s reign as members of the Inaugural Season Champions, team Moveo, must come to an end. And it just became that much more challenging.
As you may have guessed from the cover image and my mention of Beach YYC earlier, the NBVL is expanding to Calgary. We’re starting to put the “National” in National Beach Volleyball League, slowly but surely. It doesn’t mean that players will be expected to travel back and forth from one city to the other to play. Both cities will run independently of each other for the most part. It does, however, open things up to potentially end the NBVL Vancouver and NBVL Calgary seasons with some sort of Showdown between league champions, similar to how the ONE Volleyball Premier League finished up on the indoor courts earlier in July alongside the FIVB 3* beach tournament in Edmonton.
So what other additions can be expected for the 2020 season?
First of all, we’re lengthening the season. One month was too short, the Inaugural Season ended too soon after it begun, so instead of cramming 2 matchups per weekend per team, we’ll be spreading things out. Each team will play 1 matchup per weekend (mainly Sunday evenings), spanning all of January and February. This will free up a little time on the weekend for the players, and increase the drama of the season from week to week.
Secondly, each team will now draft 1 additional male and 1 additional female to their rosters. Owners will no longer have to scramble to replace players needing time off from the season. More importantly, more players will now be able to partake in the 2020 season.
The NBVL is growing alongside the sport of beach volleyball in Canada. Our country now boasts the women’s beach World Champions. Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan found a way to become champions of the sport, despite not always living in perpetual summer. NBVL Vancouver and now NBVL Calgary are providing a means for other Canadians to play in high level beach competition in the Winter. In Canada, every season is beach season.
Draft registration is now open for the 2020 NBVL Season! Draft Dates – Nov 23/24th
Draft Registration NBVL Vancouver
Draft Registration NBVL Calgary
