Volleydome veteran Mark Ellingson and his beach partner Wes Montgomery will be playing here one last week-end before starting a round the world trip to all the FIVB World Beach Tournaments this summer. Mark and Wes are presently in California, but they'll be home this week-end to play in an 8 team tournament at the Volleydome this Saturday and then a single match fundraiser against a couple of rising young stars from the Maximum Beach Club - William Pasieka and Ben Saxton. Will and Ben will be representing Canada at the end of the Summer in the U19 World Championships in Bermuda.
Mark and Wes are presently in California for a bit of final training before heading to China next week. Mark writes "California is excellent. We are training a ton and it is quite apparent that we are quite a bit stronger than we were last season. We rolled over everyone in the tourney this past week-end, then lost a tight one in the final. We aren't quite used to playing 6 matches in a day and it showed in the end."
Will and Ben are just home from playing in the Juvenile indoor nationals in Abbotsford, BC where they finished 4th. They will need a bit of a break, but will undoubtedly start working on their beach legs this week sometime.
On Saturday there will be an 8 team double knock-out tournament involving these two teams plus other top beach players from the Calgary area. That tournament gets going at 9:00 am and the finals should be at 4:00 if all goes according to schedule. On Sunday there will be a best 2 out of 3 exhibition / fundraiser match between Ellingson/Montgomery and Saxton/Pasieka starting at 3:00 pm. All spectators are welcome. Just bring your own beach chair and sunglasses to see some world class Alberta Beach players.