It has been eight years since Whitehorse had a viable co-ed volleyball league.
“I think it’s time for it to come back,” said Kim Paradise, when asked her opinion about the league.
Unfortunately, rebuilding it is no Field of Dreams — you can build it, but they may not come.
Paradis, the league’s organizer, was hoping to drum up 60 players to resurrect the league.
So far, she’s come up short.
But she’s not discouraged.
“We did registration down at Sport Yukon and I don’t think it was long enough, because I’m still getting phone calls and e-mails about the league,” said Paradis. “So I’m just trying to steer them to the drop in thing.”
So far only 20 people have shown interest and only nine came out to the first meet on Monday at the Canada Games Centre.
Despite this, Paradis hopes numbers will increase enough to allow teams.
“If I can get enough (players), maybe after Christmas we do a league format,” said Paradis. “There’s still hope.”
Teams appeal to Jennifer Duke, who came out Monday.
“Definitely,” she said “We definitely need to get it organized and have teams. It would be a lot of fun and I think there’s a lot of people out there that would come and support it.”
The league originally intended to charge each player $100 for the season and have sessions every Monday and Wednesday at the Canada Games Centre.
But the poor turnout forced Paradis to negotiate a deal with Volleyball Yukon to conduct weekly meets at Porter Creek High School Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
But, there’s one last session tonight at the Games Centre from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
“I thought it was going to be a bigger league, but I’ll take what I can get,” said Rob Sinclair, one of the nine players to attend the first session. “It was a good time. It’s good to get out and actually do something over the winter instead of sitting in front of the computer or TV and fill my face. It’s good to get out and get some exercise.
“I just moved up here in May (from Dawson Creek) and want to meet some new people,” added Sinclair. “It’s a good way to do it.”
The league is open to players of all skill levels. With that in mind, the league does not allow frontline spiking, so newbs are more comfortable.
“A lot of people are scared of the big power spikes,” said Paradis.
Another rule — although bent for the opening session — is that only adults can play.
“Most kids do after school sports and rep sports, we need something for the adults that’s healthy and promotes a healthy lifestyle,” said Paradis. “Most adults have at some point played volleyball. It’s an easy sport — it’s not hard on your knees or joints.”
The original league dissolved when scheduled games moved to later timeslots, starting at 9 p.m. instead of at 7 p.m.
“As other sports gained momentum, they needed the gym space,” said Paradis. “Once you hit 30, that nine o’clock to 11 is just not as much fun.
“(Before) we used to go to the Yukon Inn and you’d stay there until 11 and you’re home by 11:30. So we tried the 9-11 and then you’re there to 12:30 and then … it just doesn’t work very well.”
Another change in the original league that turned people off was that the league was split into two tiers based on skill, said Paradis.
For more information on the league visit volleyballyukon.com or contact Paradis at co.ed.voleyball.yt@gmail.com.