Thousands Flock to Edmonton for Youth Volleyball Nationals: Bump, Set, Spike!

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The Edmonton EXPO Centre hosts the Volleyball Canada Youth National Championships, spanning 12 days and various age groups.

“We have three events of three days back-to-back with check-in days in-between,” said Brad Moyer, chair of the National Indoor Championships committee.

The tournament, designed in a festival style, showcases over 3,000 matches across 56 volleyball courts, spanning age brackets from 14U to 18U. Alberta alone boasts 443 participating teams, according to provincial sources.

The tournament kicked off from May 16 to 18, featuring matchups between under-14 boys and under-15 boys and girls, with a staggering 268 girls’ teams competing in that age bracket alone.

From May 20 to 22, the spotlight shifted to under-17 girls and under-18 categories for both genders. This weekend, the under-17 boys take the stage alongside under-16 boys and girls.

In addition to the players, 350 referees from across Canada and the U.S. are officiating, while approximately 22,000 spectators are filling 33,000 hotel room nights throughout the tournament. Organisers assert this as the largest single amateur sport event in Canada.

“For the kids, it’s a tremendous event for them not only to be able to play teams from other provinces, but to be in a venue this large and to experience this level of play with this many people here.”

“It ends up being, usually, the most memorable experience of an athlete’s career — participating in these national championships.”

“To say it’s a big event is a bit of an understatement,” said Cindy Medynski, who is the sport and culture events director at Explore Edmonton. “We see over 30,000 out-of-town visitors come in for this event between athletes, coaches, officials and spectators. So it really does, take over the whole city.”

Outside the EXPO site, several food trucks outside are keeping patrons fed.

“This is one of our bigger events for the year,” said Terry Sept, who is the owner of the Smokehouse BBQ & Black Sheep Eatery food trucks.