All it takes is a group of dedicated college athletes, money and a call for students to “#RushVB” to live out a dream of competing in a national tournament.
Last April, Longwood men’s volleyball club made history by attending their first-ever national championships event in Kansas City, Mo. Club teams from different colleges around the nation flock by the hundreds to the epicenter of the tournament each year, with Longwood adding their name to the list.
The team is back for more this year, entering their name into the 2018 NCVF Volleyball Championships held in St. Louis, Mo.
According to the official NCVF championships website, this years’ event is “record setting” with over 450 teams from around the nation participating. This number narrowly beats out last years’ turnout, with just over 440 teams.
Men’s volleyball club president and business senior Brian Craven said he recently had a meeting with Associate Director of Campus Recreation Marissa Musumeci to discuss the trip plans. Craven said although the tournament runs from April 12-14, they plan on leaving April 10th to manage their time better than last year.
“We’re changing how we did it before, rather than driving through the night, we’re going to drive halfway, get a hotel, and then finish in the morning,” Craven said. “It’ll be a little more money, but it’ll be safer.”
According to Craven, in his last year being club president, the process of entering the tournament requires a great amount of paperwork, including an enrollment verification form which ensures their status as a full-time student at Longwood.
Financially, Craven said the total amount for the trip will cost about $3,000, which includes the hotel, gas, food, and entry fee expenses. Although they have not reached the total expenses goal yet, Craven believes they will exceed the needed amount by creating a “Go Fund Me” page.
“We don’t need too much (money) like we did last year. We’re only, like, $500 short, which we can definitely make up in a Go Fund Me,” said Craven. “I think we’ll make a little bit more than that which will be good … that way we don’t have to pull out of pocket, and go out to one big team dinner.”
According to the club treasurer and Elementary Education sophomore Alex Flickinger, the money received by winning the Club Cup will help pay expenses for the total trip.
“With winning Club Cup every year, we get a little bit of extra money from the sports club council, which helps us with the fundraising for nationals,” Flickinger said.
The Club Cup is a points-based system, rewarding teams for their performances and extracurricular activities they do off the field or court. The points add up until a team is declared the winner at the end of each year. After winning the Club Cup, men’s club volleyball has received a certain amount of money for their performances.
By attending the national championships for a second straight year, physical education and health junior Aaron Campbell hopes it will draw attention towards their program as they continue to see players graduate.
“Hopefully this will give us more funding to go out and do more tournaments, get more involved on campus, and get more people to join,” Campbell said. “Our team is dwindling in players, and with most of our starting team graduating, it’ll be tough for us next year.”
With the season winding down and coming to a close, they have already planned to hand down the president role to Campbell, and vice president position to Flickinger. Currently, the vice president role belongs to therapeutic recreation senior Coleman Paz.
After finishing 35th in the Division II group last year, they have their sights set to improve this year, as they believe their team this year is much stronger than last year, knowing they are able to compete at a high level.
“This is definitely one of the best teams we’ve had since I have been here,” Campbell said. “We might as well push to win it.”
The team plans on making the trip to nationals a yearly tradition, continuing a legacy started by a spontaneous idea last year.
The Men’s Club Volleyball team takes a quick break from practice to pose for a group picture.
