Nicole Knight
Staff Writer
Club West Volleyball has found a new home in the former La Verne Hockey Club facility to provide a wide variety of volleyball competition to all ages.
Last year the La Verne Hockey Club was forced to surrender the facility because of suffering finances.
“Opened for four years, the La Verne Hockey Club had a great staff and program, but it lost the city money, so it unfortunately had to be closed,” said Bill Aguirre, Park and Community Services Director for the City of La Verne.
Club West Volleyball opened their new facility on Oct. 1 with great enthusiasm. The 47,000 square foot facility will house six courts, a weight room, snack bar, and a mezzanine area for optimal viewing. The program’s new home currently houses about 200 athletes every day.
Open year round, the organization offers a wide variety of programs for all ages and levels of volleyball competition. The classes and clinics which are instructed by college-level coaches, are available for boys and girls from ages eight to 18. Club West Volleyball hosts tournaments for every level of competition, private coaching lessons, summer camps, adult leagues and many more programs.
“We offer a smorgasbord of volleyball at Club West,” said Club West Volleyball Assistant Director Kurt Vlasich. “We hope to be the premier volleyball facility for California student-athletes.”
Last year, Club West Volleyball produced 15 student-athletes who were accepted to play in college programs. The organization hopes to double student-athletes admittance into college volleyball programs this year.
“We offer every single child a place to play and practice, while learning from the best coaches and engaging in college-level classes,” Vlasich said.
Only open for about a month, Club West Volleyball hopes to continue to expand and reach their expectations for success in the community.
“We are doing more and having more fun than we expected,” Vlasich said. “The program’s really taken off and we couldn’t be happier.”
“I hope they do well. They are providing something we haven’t yet that will benefit the community,” Aguirre said.
Not only does Club West Volleyball offer an extensive amount of programs for the younger generation, but the organization opens their facility to local teams to train and practice.
Through these welcoming doors, the University of La Verne’s former men’s volleyball team has found a new home.
Even though men’s volleyball was abruptly cut from the University’s athletic program this year, the former team is moving on by competing in tournaments through the Southern California Volleyball Association with the help of Club West Volleyball.
Volleyball members from every generation of ULV have joined the newly formed team. Open to all players, the team consists of ULV volleyball alumni from five years ago to freshmen who never received the chance to compete for the Leopards.
Even Morgan Coberly, the former ULV men’s volleyball head coach, now has a chance to play side by side with his past student-athletes.
“It’s cool to have everyone back together again, because we we’re a really tight group,” Coberly said. “It’s great to have alumni, coaches and players come together and pretend like it’s still going on.”
Even though practices are in good spirit, most of the former ULV team is still bitter about resolving to an alternative form of competition.
“Nothing is the same as playing on a team representing your school,” said sophomore Jarrett Day, a former member of the men’s volleyball team.
“We’re not associated with ULV at all, everyone is still pretty bitter about the whole thing,” Coberly said.
Supporting local schools, like the former ULV men’s volleyball team, is a part of Club West Volleyball’s encouraging contribution to surrounding communities.
Vlasich hopes to continue giving schools like La Verne the opportunity to play and the accommodations to make them successful.
Nicole Knight can be reached at stareknight17@charter.net.
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.
