Battle At The Bay – A GameChanger For Volleyball Events
This content series is sponsored by GameChanger – The Official Scorekeeping, Stats, Team Management & Technology Partner of Prep Dig.
From day one, the mission at Prep Dig has always been to “Grow The Game”. We started with content, then showcases, and now tournaments. This past weekend at Battle of the Bay at the new Resch Expo Center in Green Bay (Ashwaubenon), it was the next step in growing the game, by bringing a large volleyball event to an area that isn’t accustomed to an event of this size. A “Gamechanger” of an event, especially for the athletes from the Green Bay/Fox Valley area, where a two to six hour car ride for club volleyball is just part of the norm. Here are a few moments over the weekend that really stood out, as well as the “feel good” moments that aren’t measured on the stat sheet.
If You Build It, They Will Come…Hopefully
I had a lot of questions in regards to how this event came to be. As a resident of Green Bay and within walking distance of Lambeau Field and the Stadium District, it was a dream to be able to run a club volleyball event at the up and coming Resch Expo Center which would be across the street from Lambeau Field. It started with a meeting late 2020 with a friend where we were in masks sitting on tables across the room from each other and the vision was put into action. A tour of the facility and some operations work between Prep Dig and PMI Entertainment at the Resch Expo Center, and a date was set just over a year ago to have Battle at the Bay. We’ve had events where we’ve been surprised with the huge turnout where we have to cap the number of teams and others where we scratch our heads thinking how did this not work in regards to low team registration (just being super transparent here). Now we just needed teams to register and see the vision in what could be a potentially strong event for club volleyball. A new event, at a new venue, that isn’t accustomed to be a “club volleyball hotspot” wasn’t necessarily a guaranteed home run, or even a double, but it definitely was a great swing and a solid contact for us bringing club volleyball to Green Bay.
The Local Buy In
We were able to have all the clubs out of the Fox Valley, which is only 30 minutes away from the Resch Expo to commit teams as well as other top teams out of Madison in Capital Volleyball Academy , Wisconsin Ice out of Wausau, and a number of Milwaukee clubs would be making the trip North. Milwaukee Sting, one of the top clubs in the state and a well known club in the country was bringing all of their 18s teams to play, and soon Michigan Elite out of Detroit, another national power would bring their 18s teams. High Street Volleyball out of Michigan made the trek over and said, “We just want to play new teams”. VC United out of Rockford, IL brought their 18-2 and 18-3 teams to cap off their season, and before you know it we had variety. “This is happening”, something I continued saying to myself as teams signed up, as courts were laid, and teams took the courts for the first time Saturday morning to kick off the event.
Thank you @fox11news for making the trip out to #battleatthebay and featuring @FCEliteVB – glad Brianna Cantrell Brianna Cantrell OH Appleton North | 2022 State #104 Nation WI ‘s grandpa could make an appearance 🙂 pic.twitter.com/Ch3Dp8s5I6
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) April 5, 2022
“The First Time My Family Has Seen Me Play”
Club volleyball is unique. Trying to explain to someone 100 courts inside of a convention center is a bizarre concept. Families are able to see the high school matches, but going to a club event is different. For a lot of these athletes in Northeast Wisconsin, their grandparents, extended family and friends are seeing them play club volleyball for the first time. For the 18s, this could be their last time playing in their home state before they head off to their future college home that may be states away.
There Is Someone Always Looking Up To These Athletes
I spent a lot of time observing what was going on around the courts. There were a lot of younger athletes who were heading to the 17/18s courts because some of the athletes we had were some of the best in the country. However, believe it or not the 13s had some fans as well. I have close friends in the area who still don’t have a firm understanding of what I actually do so they came to the event and brought their 10 year old daughter who is dabbling in volleyball. We could either watch the 18s court or the 13s and she wanted to see kids who were around her age play volleyball. She then asked if we could go to the gym and practice volleyball. These moments, especially for young athletes, are so impressionable. In order to grow the game, realize you can be a role model at any age and at any tournament, it’s not an on and off switch. As for the 17s and 18s who are hitting the wall of the club season, think back to the fun of the game from your 12 year old self – and breaking out an old school ace cheer might spark some excitement too.
Definitely a moment seeing this @wearevcunited 182 Elite team. These athletes and their families sacrifice so much and have committed to much over their careers. Glad you came to play! Good luck next year! pic.twitter.com/7WXVPqTWVm
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) April 3, 2022
A Moment With VC United 182 Elite
The 18s year for club is always an interesting one. A lot of the athletes are committed, its a time to polish their skills, stay in shape, have fun, but its also a grind that final season making the long road trips, getting home late on a Sunday night to get right back up again to go to school on Monday. Sometimes a love/hate relationship with volleyball. For VC United 182, there were plenty of athletes who I had covered since their 15s and 16s year. I had seen them multiple times this season and there is such a spark about this team, they are so fun to watch. This past weekend I saw them taking pictures at the photo area, pictures with their senior picture on the monitor, and had plenty of super fans on their side. After their final match, there were plenty of tears, hugs, and final moments for this team. For these athletes, they’ve been playing volleyball since their knee pads took up their whole legs and the ribbons were longer than their hair. For these parents, its the sacrifices to see their daughter play, what they love to do, plenty of tears (happy and sad), and to have it all come to an end definitely brings a whole range of emotions all at once. I am not one to take “emotional” pictures, but it captures what the end of an era is all about in the world of volleyball.
A few big swings and a lot of blocks from #BattleAtTheBay – @FCEliteVB @MIEliteVB @stingvb1988 @CapitalVbAll and more! pic.twitter.com/hjVmddNYOW
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) April 4, 2022
The 17/18 Championship
Michigan Elite ran into some snags on Saturday, FC Elite 18 Elite was beaten by Sting 18 Gold in a crossover, but the two teams who have qualified for USAV 18 Open were able to meet for one final battle. Michigan Elite 18 Mizuno and FC Elite 18 Elite have double digit D1 commits between the two teams. There was also a home court feel for FC Elite with three deep watching around their sidelines and their youth teams supporting them in the front row. This would end up being a three set battle that would go in favor of FC Elite.
Two 18s teams who are among the best in the country.
Lions vs Packers @MIEliteVB 18 Mizuno vs @FCEliteVB 18 Elite
Battle at the Bay 18s Championship pic.twitter.com/cnr5fnLoSb
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) April 3, 2022
What’s Next?
The feedback we have received is, “You could really grow this event!” or “The facility is so nice”. There is everything that checks the boxes here for what our future could be for Battle at the Bay, which is extremely exciting. We want to continue to grow the game and bring events to areas that may not be the automatic hot spots for club volleyball. We’re planning for 2023, we’re going to continue covering as many players as we can, but for right now we’re going to enjoy the moment that was this weekend as I truly believe Battle at the Bay was a gamechanger in the volleyball landscape.