(Seguin) — Despite being miles away from the coastline, a local sports complex is bringing a little bit of the beach life to Seguin. Tiger Sports Complex will soon be turning dirt or in this case some sand for its newest facility, the Texas Tiger Beach Volleyball Complex.
Owners Kelle and Frank Sullivan says the beach volleyball complex will be the start of Phase 2 for the sports complex located at 2818 Cordova Rd. The complex is already home to the Tigers Volleyball Club, a four indoor court complex and CrossFit Seguin.
Kelle Sullivan says while Phase 2 of the project came a little bit sooner than she and her husband expected, it is being built in response to the rapidly growing sport and popularity of beach volleyball.
“It was accelerated with the help of the Lone Star Volleyball Association. I can not say that enough. What Frank and I were looking to do were to put in a couple of courts, maybe two because that’s what we could do and we were approached — that said the region was looking to expand or to create some facilities and they wanted one toward the Austin area. They wanted one toward the San Antonio area and they wanted one in the Houston area because they are focused on expanding and promoting the beach program. Right now, the Lone Star Volleyball Association is really promoting that because they see the future in volleyball. They see that it’s not always going to be indoor. That these athletes as they are growing up, they are going to have the opportunity to play collegiately and if we don’t help prepare them to do that, they are going to be behind. We are going to be behind other volleyball regions. Lone Star is not the only one. There is a list that are all involved in the USA Volleyball Program. We are just one region out of many and so our region’s commissioner Will Vick is really looking to make sure that we don’t get behind anybody else and that’s why they are looking to partner — they are partnering with us in cooperation. We are doing this together to build this facility,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan says the complex will be built in the northern half of their 30 acre property. She says the design for the facility itself will be unique for this particular area.
“Four of those courts will be under roof. Under roof means it will have a roof unit over them to shield the athletes from the harsh summer sun that we experience here in Texas and that building itself will be similar to this size of our existing indoor facility because that also houses four courts but the roof itself will extend up an additional 12 feet,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan says to have this kind of facility in the immediate area is a win-win for athletes looking to compete.
“Beach is becoming more and more prevalent on the collegiate level for scholarships and you are seeing a lot more athletes at the younger ages starting to play that in hopes of acquiring one of those scholarships on the college level. There’s really not a lot of it in our area. There’s a little bit but not a lot. There’s not really any facilities. There was one in New Braunfels called River City. It shut down a couple of years ago. The closest one to us right now is 210 in San Antonio. That is a bar type venue, like a bar and grill. People don’t really want to hang out there with their little ones when they are just focusing on volleyball but that is really the only option that we have currently other than going to Austin and there is one in LaVernia as well — a beach complex in LaVernia,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan says the beach complex is just the next step in growing their successful indoor volleyball program and puts the right training in place for success.
“But what it means for us is that it is going to allow us to one, enhance our program, offer another level to make our players who play indoor — if they transition over and play outdoor as well — they are going to be a much stronger volleyball player. Why? Because playing in sand, working through that resistance creates stronger legs, stronger movement and so when you come in and jump off the hard floor versus jumping out of the sand, it’s going to seem so much easier so you working harder to get stronger to transition , to make a stronger athlete indoor. Additionally indoor, you play six man in club. In beach, you play two. So, no longer are you the quote ‘setter,’ the ‘libero’, the ‘front row hitter’ — now, you are everything. So your all around skills are enhanced and increase ten fold. Now, when you come in door, you have so many more skills to offer the court,” said Sullivan.
Beach volleyball, however, won’t just be for those looking to secure a scholarship. Sullivan says the complex will also be available to those looking for some recreational fun.
“We will have doubles. We will have triples. We will have fours. We may even have sixes just depending on what the interest is on the adult level — what they are looking for, what they would like to see. We can see if maybe we can incorporate that with our programming during the summer because we want to meet the needs of our community,” said Sullivan. ” Whatever they would like to see happen, we will certainly consider,” said Sullivan.
According to Sullivan, this future complex will not be in competition with the courts that currently exist in Seguin. Sullivan says while there might be some crossover, these two sets of courts will be different.
“The question has come up, what’s going to happen to the clay courts in Seguin right next to the Coliseum now that we are going to have some sand courts here. The answer to that is nothing. They are going to continue. They are going to continue to be busy and to thrive just as they always have because you are talking about a different group of folks. Folks that play hard clay sand courts — that’s kind of like playing indoor but doing it on an outdoor scale because the ground is hard. There’s no give to that. Sand is completely different and not everybody who plays on the clay courts are even going to be interested in playing sand and there are some who play sand that are not currently playing on the clay courts. So there can be some crossover. There can be some that go back and forth between the two but on a larger scale, I really don’t think one will impact the other because you are talking about different athletes playing on different surfaces specifically for a reason,” said Sullivan.
The construction of the future beach complex is also said to be a win-win for the Seguin area. Sullivan says the complex is expected to not only bring dollars but attention to this area.
“There is an economic impact because on a Saturday, when I have a tournament here, I can have throughout the day over 900 folks come through here. Those 900 folks are not all eating out of my concession stand. I guarantee that. They are going to our local vendors here in town. They are going to Whataburger. They are going to Bill Miller’s. I know. I see the empty sacks and the remains of that in the trash at the end of the day. They are going to buy gas. They are going to the store and grabbing snacks. They’re are definitely frequenting our community in some purchases throughout that day. Coming up, what we are going to have in the summer is the same thing. But when we have qualifiers, we are going to have folks coming in the night before and spending the night and then playing the next day. I do have right now, teams that come up from Laredo and I have given them the numbers and the phone numbers of our hotels that are right here off of I-10. I can’t say exactly where they stayed or how many rooms they’ve booked but I do know they are doing that. So absolutely, there is a positive impact to our community,” said Sullivan.
Construction on the new beach complex is scheduled to begin on Friday, Nov. 1. The goal is to have the sand courts filled and ready for play in May 2020.