Summer in California is often accompanied by beautiful weather, long summer days, and for the volleyball community, a lot of tournaments on the beach. One tournament that is collectively looked forward to all year is the Charlie Saikley 6-Man Volleyball Tournament, or unofficially known as the Manhattan Beach 6-Man. 

The Manhattan Beach 6-Man was officially started over 46 years ago by Charlie Saikley, who is credited for bringing volleyball from the gym on to the beach. The tournament itself is run over the course of two days, usually a Friday and a Saturday towards the end of July or the beginning of August. The Manhattan Beach 6-Man can almost be seen as a monument standing the test of time, as it is played with old school volleyball rules. For those who do not know the old volleyball rules, the game is played with sideout scoring, which means for you to score a point, your team must serve the ball. If your team receives the ball and also terminates the play, you don’t receive a point, just a chance to serve. This version of volleyball can result in long drawn out games that really test the conditioning and willpower of those on the court. Another rule that is taken from old school volleyball rules is that the receiving team isn’t allowed to take any serves open handed, it must be taken with a platform, which is a rule that is also used on the beach. This old school form of volleyball was the norm until the early 2000s, when the game started to change to allow it to be more digestible for the casual viewer.

The Manhattan Beach 6-Man has seen a long history of elite volleyball players pooling together to win one of the most sought after medals in the volleyball community. In years past you would come down to witness greats like David Lee, an Olympic gold medalist, play with beach volleyball legends such as Matt Furbringer. The NVA also had a multitude of players competing in it this year with Stunners players Nick Amado, Matt Hilling, and Corey Chavers all playing on different teams striving for the 6-Man title. 

The Manhattan Beach 6-Man is also an incredibly social event, bringing in spectators from all over California to come watch some incredible volleyball. One of the more attractive aspects of the 6-Man are the series of bars and restaurants that open up early and close late to allow the players and spectators to either celebrate their wins or celebrate their loss, as there is a saying that “Any 6-man is a good 6-man”.

-NVA Staff Writer

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Weightlifting has always been a crucial aspect of being a high level athlete. When looking at some of the world’s best athletes, they all can speak upon the importance of spending time in the weightroom to not only get stronger but to rehabilitate their bodies and prevent injury. The Stunners also take very seriously the benefits of weightlifting, for the strength of their athletes, and their endurance which is needed to succeed for long weekend tournaments and sometimes grueling practices. The Stunners, along with their strength coach and sports medicine specialist Panos Stavrou, pride themselves on their ability to practice and lift consecutive days of the week, which wouldn’t be possible without a weight room. Historically, the Stunners weight room has been considered pretty basic, but lately, an influx of funds and investment by Stunners and Panos has allowed the weight room to grow. What was just a squat rack before, has now included a wide variety of dumbbell weights, resistance bands, agility equipment, multiple olympic bars, and even has an olympic platform for those explosive lifts.

“The goal here is to create a space to help develop a culture around getting stronger.” Panos said. His main goal is increasing the potentiality of the weightroom is to provide a consistent space where athletes can come in, work hard, and support their fellow teammates. He went on to state, “A team’s success has a lot to do with the culture they create for themselves on and off the court, I want to create a culture that focuses on hard work and improving yourself.” 

This is very important to the development of a team, and the players are buying in. Middle blocker, Nick Amado explained, “Weightlifting is a crucial aspect to the game of volleyball, because it is such an explosive sport.” He continued, “If you only practiced those explosive movements in the gym during practice, you won’t see any type of gains, whether that be in strength or vertical, so it allows you to really take your game to the next level.”

One important aspect of increasing the size of the weightroom is that it also creates another source of income for the players, or for Panos himself who enjoys personal training. “By getting certified, the players can develop their own programs and now train other people, or potentially younger players and create another source of income for themselves.” Panos also believes that by creating a bigger weightroom, others who aspire to become professional athletes can pay a monthly price and come in and train. 

NVA postpones season due to COVID-19

Faced with the uncertainties regarding the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and the impact it will have on the sport of volleyball, despite having the infrastructure in place for one of the most anticipated season opening events thus far, the NVA postponed the season until further notice.

The statistics surrounding the pandemic are getting worse at the moment, but the kind people at NVA remain optimistic that they will have an opportunity to safely host an event this year. Meanwhile, the league announced that the safety of the athletes, coaches, and staff is their top priority. According to NVA staff, until the proposed scenarios for handling the health threat are implemented by authorities and improving the overall covid statistics, public safety will come first. And until the methods that would go into hosting an event with public safety at the forefront are well understood and approved by relevant officials, there would be no opening event. With the likelihood that another event gets canceled still up in the air, the athletes continue to train at home and the staff continues to have their weekly meetings in order to prepare for updates, both good and bad.

During a time when we are at the mercy of the CDC guidelines and the State Governor’s recommendations, it is unclear when the next event will take place and, better yet, what that will look like. Do players wear masks? Only the officials? Just the fans? Or, better yet, will the virus run its course and open the door for the entertainment that our beloved fans have been waiting for? Either way, the NVA will be here and looking for the next opportunity to provide world-class volleyball entertainment.