Men's Shoes Last Saturday morning, while most of Santa Cruz was still sleepingoff their Friday nights, 60 die-hard volleyball players made theirway to Harbor Beach to compete in the fifth annual Old School ShoesOpen. The Old School Shoes Open is part of the Harbor Beach Open Tour,the only professional volleyball tour that comes to Santa Cruz. “Most tours are in SoCal,” event organizer Dave Yeakelsaid. “But there’s local talent here too.” Yeakel has been trying to bring professional beach volleyball backto Santa Cruz for a long time. “There was a void in pro volleyball in Santa Cruz,”Yeakel said. “I tried to fill it with a pro-level tournament,but with a nice relaxed atmosphere.” Most of the players in attendance are Santa Cruz natives, orvisitors who got hooked on beach volleyball the first time theyplayed it and never left. Each person adds a different dynamic toform a close-knit community of beach volleyball players. “Everyone knows everyone here,” Yeakel said.“It’s nice, but we could always use more people.” Brandy Lewis, a Chico native, moved out to Santa Cruz to play beachvolleyball. “This tournament is fun,” Lewis said. “Others aremore serious. You get ratings and points. But this one is for fun,music and food.” The sponsor, Old School Shoes, is a store on Pacific Avenue,and the tournament is special because it plays with old-schoolrules. Old-school rules mean that the court is 20 percent larger, thereare no antennas on the nets, and the scoring system is different aswell: a team is only able to score when it serves the ball. “The rules are fun but hard,” participant James Kellysaid. “Everyone is used to the new rules. It’s hard toget used to the old ones again.” In addition to great competition, the Old School Shoes Open hasanother incentive: prizes. The prizes total $6,000 worth ofdinners, gym passes, glasses and Old School cash. “People should come to play,” Lewis said. “Plusyou get free lunch, beer, and there are good prizes.” All in all, about 30 teams showed up for the two-day extravaganza.The Open was a double elimination tournament. Saturday hosted themen’s open, women’s pros and women’s collegedivision. On Sunday, players participated in the women’s openand men’s pros. Though the final game was scheduled to go until 5 p.m. Saturdaynight, it continued past 7 p.m., as did the excitement. Throughoutthe day a live DJ performed and a crowd of supporters cheeredathletes on. The Harbor Beach Open Tour holds nine events per year, and eightare in Santa Cruz. The Old School Shoes Open was the second oneheld so far, with the next one, Airel Events Open, scheduled forJune 21 and 22 at Harbor Beach. “The more people we can get involved, the better,”Kelly said. “It’s a fun thing to get involved in.Everyone’s welcome, that’s for sure.” 2008-06-06 13:16:58
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