Cost of volleyball expenses

I have been asked by the Volleyball Council to post an explanation of volleyball costs on the web page so teams and players have a better understanding of the costs of playing volleyball.

From 1990-93 volleyball players contributed $5, and from 1994-2001 $10, of their player fees to a Capital Account in hopes of someday being able to have their own facility or to share a facility with another group. This became necessary as rental space in the school district for adults to play sports became harder to get and times became later. When we last played matches in the school district we were only using two schools, Service and Bartlett, from 9:00pm - 11:00pm during the week.

In the fall of 2001 we had the opportunity to schedule all of our volleyball matches for league and tournament play at O'Malley Gardens, and in the spring of 2003 we were able to move our office to the same facility. O'Malley Gardens was built at a time we very much needed a facility; however the cost was much greater than renting space from the school district. The upside was four courts, matches starting at 6:45pm during the week, Saturday and Sunday tournaments, and never showing up to play and finding a wrestling match or a school dance you did not know was scheduled.

By 2001 volleyball had approximately $165,000 in the Capital Account so the Volleyball Council voted to help offset costs by subsidizing teams from the Capital Account, $7500 per season for league and between $2500-$4000 for tournaments, at a cost of around $20,000 per year. At that time team fees were $375, without the subsidy, and the increase in player fees, it would have been closer to $750. In the spring of 2006 we raised the team fee by $25 in order to lower the subsidy to $5900 per season and in the fall of 2007 we raised the team fee another $25 lowering the subsidy to $4300 per season. By slowly raising the team fee in small increments the Capital Account should last for many more years.

The player fee has been $60 since we began playing at O'Malley Gardens with half of that fee helping to offset the court rental cost and the other half going to administrative costs. If anyone has any further questions regarding these expenses you can contact me at the Anchorage Sports office at 562-1504.

Carole Miller, Volleyball Director