Friday, November 27, 2009

MEMPHIS METRO VOLLEYBALL EXPANDS INTO BARTLETT SPACE TO HANDLE LEAGUES, TRAINING

Memphis Metro Volleyball, an 11-year-old local volleyball league and training center, is expanding into 30,000 square feet of space at the former Brother International distribution facility in Bartlett.

Metro Volleyball has been operating in 17,000 square feet of space at a facility on Appling View in Bartlett, where it had four volleyball courts. Jitka Okolicany, founder, president and CEO of Metro Volleyball, says the group’s 27 teams and 270 players needed more space.

Okolicany, who was a member of the Czech Republic’s junior national volleyball team, founded Metro Volleyball in order to supervise her daughter’s volleyball skills. Her daughter, Katie Hybnerova, who played for the United States Junior Olympic Volleyball team, is now marketing director for the business.

Metro Volleyball also hosts the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational Tournament, held annually in January at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. The 2009 event drew 120 teams from around the region on 15 courts at the Convention Center. About 1,400 players and family members were in attendance.

“We started in a high school gym and rented courts from churches, but as we grew, we were also the first ones to be bumped out if there was a function,” Okolicany says. “We outgrew our old space in five years.”

The new space is being leased from generic pharmaceutical manufacturer TopRX.

Okolicany says the new facility offers greater visibility for Metro, and if it outgrows this space, another 30,000 square feet is available for lease as well. In addition to a build-out allowance from TopRX, the non-profit Metro Volleyball invested $150,000 in renovations.

The new space will include five courts, spectator space, locker rooms and concessions. Cameras are being installed to record games and tournaments, and Metro will offer DVDs of the action for sale.

Okolicany says the new space will allow for year-round leagues and training. The regular volleyball season runs from November to May, while national tournaments run through June. During the offseason, Metro Volleyball hosts training clinics and camps to “bridge the gaps” between middle school, high school and college players.

Clinics typically cost about $35 a day, while camps can cost $120 a week, depending on size of the group. Hybnerova says the more money Metro Volleyball raises, the more it can put back into equipment and facilities.

“We’re looking to provide more training for what we’re doing,” Hybnerova says.
The 2010 MLK tournament, which will be held Jan. 29-30, could attract up to 200 teams on 22 courts. Okolicany says the new facility could eventually host city, state and regional tournaments.

Malvin Gipson, national sales director of the Memphis Sports Council, says the 2010 event expects to have participants from up to eight states. He says the tournament could expand to two weekends.

“That’s our goal,” Gipson says. “What the continued success of this does is to open the door for a national event. Jitka’s well connected to the USA Volleyball Association in Colorado Springs and they are attracting top level talent.”