OCEAN CITY — After putting the kibosh on a request to hold the latest in a summer-long beach volleyball tournament season on a downtown beach at the same time as the Ocean City Air Show last weekend, the Mayor and Council on Monday gave the green light to the promoters for three more weekends throughout the summer.
Back in April, resort officials approved the first phases of the Junior Atlantic Beach Series, a large beach volleyball tournament spread out on the north end of Ocean City and sponsored by the Carousel. The approval only covered the first two scheduled events in the series on June 4-5 and June 18-19 with the stipulation subsequent approvals would be granted only after a review of the initial events.
Earlier this month, the Mayor and Council denied a request from the event promoter to utilize the courts on the beach at 4th Street for the June 18-19 event over concerns with a potential conflict with the Ocean City Air Show last weekend. While supporting the beach volleyball series, resort officials raised concern with the potential traffic conflicts of staging dozens of beach volleyball games at the same time the air show was going on. As a result, last weekend’s event was limited to the beach in front of host Carousel.
This week, Junior Atlantic Beach Series promoters came back before the council seeking an approval on a modified plan for the remaining weekend events in the summer-long series. The amended plan calls for continuing the series on July 2-3, July 30-31 and Sept. 3-4.
The amended plan requested the July 2-3 event be played entirely on the town’s beach volleyball courts from 3rd to 6th streets. The request was also seeking permission to have the July 30-31 event and the Sept. 3-4 event played at both the north beach location at 117th Street and the town’s beach volleyball courts starting at 4th Street.
When the summer-long series was first pitched back in May, event promoter Rich Comly told the council the events draw hundreds of players along with their families, friends and fans. He said cutting back on the number of courts available could limit capacity and cut back on the number of entrants, which is why he was requesting multiple sites for the weekend events yet to come.
Mayor Rick Meehan said events such the Junior Atlantic Beach Series should be encouraged as wholesome, healthy fun that also has a significant economic benefit for the town. He pointed at another indoor volleyball tournament this spring as proof.
“When you look back to Mother’s Day weekend, that’s typically a soft weekend, but when I went to the Convention Center it was packed,” he said. “So were the courts up at Northside Park. It’s just what we want to see in Ocean City. Our sports marketing partnership wants to see an expansion of volleyball.”
With the Ocean City Air Show in the books, Meehan said there were no real potential conflicts with allowing the Junior Atlantic Series to use the downtown beach volleyball courts.
“When you look at the areas requested, the beach is very wide there,” he said. “The events are very well-managed and they are great for Ocean City. I think we need to support growing volleyball.”
Councilman Wayne Hartman said when the idea was first pitched, he received some pushback from citizens about the tournament peacefully coexisting with beachgoers and private property owners, but once the first couple events were held, there were no more complaints.
“That shows you’re doing a great job. This is the kind of event that brings the right people to Ocean City,” he said.
