The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate at its Feb. 16 meeting passed a resolution calling for the establishment of an outdoor volleyball court.
Freshman Isabella Kahhale, a member of the TCU Senate, explained that the resolution stemmed from a desire to allow a larger part of the Tufts community to participate in the sport. Current space restrictions only permit students on intramural, club and varsity teams to play, according to Kahhale, who played on an intramural team.
"The specific team I was on had 20 people on it ... [and] it wasn't really an environment where people could learn," Kahhale said. "I think it was due to space and just that if someone wanted to learn how to play volleyball, there is nowhere for them to do that. You can only book space in the gym if you're part of a team and you don't have access to the balls."
Co-captain of the women's club volleyball team Vanessa Zhang agreed that more practice space would be welcome. She explained that the club teams can only practice in the Chase Gym which only has room for a singular volleyball court.
"We actually share practice times with the men's club team," Zhang said. "Their season ends right after spring break so the only real time we have to practice in the gym is from after spring break until the beginning of May ... Having a beach volleyball court would be beneficial for us [because] we'll be able to practice in the fall when it's nice out."
Zhang and men's club volleyball co-captain Robert Carter, a senior, added that an outdoor volleyball court could bring increased visibility to the sport.
"We have really tried to increase our campus outreach to make sure we are reaching everyone who has the talent to contribute to our team the past few years and these courts should help us do that," Carter told the Daily in an email. "We have the best men's club team in New England for our division and yet every year we have great players not coming out for the team simply because they don't know we exist. Just having an established place on campus for us to hang out in the off season, and build a more public volleyball community at Tufts is a very big deal."
Kahhale explained that while the planning is ongoing, she hopes to see significant progress in the next month.
"We presented [the resolution] to Senate, they approved it, everyone thought it was a great idea and now we're basically going to be sending emails to the director of athletics, the Office of Alumni [Relations] and the director of facilities to try to pull everything together and make this happen," Kahhale said.
Kahhale explained that cost, location and management of a new facility are key questions she and co-organizer Eli Lloyd are working to answer. Kahhale explained that Director of the Office for Campus Life Joe Golia supports the proposal. They said they hope to meet with the Athletics Department soon.
"We're going to go to athletics just to get their support -- we're not asking for money," Kahhale said. "I want to talk to athletics to see if they would be willing to take the responsibility of the court, to own it ... so they would come in late fall to take down the net and maybe put a tarp on it."
Lloyd and Kahhale said that they have been researching construction costs, and while they thought a court would initially cost $6,000, it will likely be slightly more expensive. They hope to raise money through a variety of avenues including alumni, fundraisers and possibly TCU Senate. Kahhale said that they have unofficial support from both the women and men's club volleyball teams as well as the women's varsity teams and they hope the teams will contribute to the fundraising effort.
"We're going to contact the alumni office to let them know [to tell us] if there is any alum who would be interesting in donating," Kahhale said. "Once we can get the approval, then we can start to do the fundraising. We can really push for alumni donations, [and] maybe go to the Senate and get discretionary funding."
The space between Tilton and Haskell Halls, or the open space behind Lewis Hall, are two areas Kahhale mentioned as possible locations for a new beach volleyball court. She said organizers are looking into working with the Office for Campus Life to manage the use of the space.
"We would probably try to have no reservation system in the beginning," she said. "There's also the question of where the volleyballs would be kept. We could try to figure out something with the Campus Center [in the way] that you rent out pool balls."
Kahhale added that while she does not believe students will damage the courts, organizers would try to work with the Office of Residential Life and Learning to see if residential assistants (RAs) of nearby dorms can report rowdiness or inappropriate use of the facility.
While many meetings are needed to push the project forward, Kahhale hopes organizers will not run into many obstacles.
"I think it's going to take a lot of work," she said. "Everything has to run as smoothly as it can, we have to get approval from the right people ... We're not anticipating too many obstacles, but that's very bold of us to say so if we follow that plan and it works out, we should be able to have it by the end of the year. The support is there, we just need to get the approval and the money and then it can happen."
Kahhale added that volleyball is a "social sport" and an outdoor court will provide the entire student body to participate.
"People from the graduate school can come down and play and it would just hopefully be a social place [where] you can lie down and watch people play," she said. "It's nice to have a little sand, remind people of home if they're not from New England."
Alexander Spring contributed to this article.
