2006 VB4Y Junior Atlantic Beach Tour
In 2006 we had a fantastic summer!
Starting in early May beach training was under way. Within weeks our JAB players were competing in Orlando Florida for a bid into the AAU Junior Olympic Games. June 18 at the Grand Floridian Hotel, teams from around the country came out to compete for the first bid of the season on the east coast. Virginia had 4 players qualify by winning in the medal rounds. Amanda Walker and Stephanie Wacker-qualified in the 14 and under division while Emily Shea and Stacey Mc Andrews qualified in the 16 and under division.
From then on it was every other weekend of beach tournaments in the East from Florida, North Carolina, Chicago, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maryland. With 6 stops in Virginia. Virginia was also home to the 40th Junior Olympic Games which VB4Y hosted the Volleyball Beach Doubles Event and the USAV High Performance Beach Camp.
The first successful High Performance Beach Camp on the East Coast was held between 12th -14th Street at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. 30 players were accepted to come out and get drilled on the fundamentals and finesse of beach volleyball by Jon Aharoni Director of the USAV High Performance Beach Camps, Denny Lennon Director of the Youth Beach Development Programs for USAV, Christine Jinbo youth coach and beach tour director from USAV along with VB4Y founder Venesa Walker. The players were conditioned, taught, and drilled for two solid days (we did them a break during the peak heat stroke hours) 8-11 and 4-8 PM, in preparation for the up coming competition.
Out of the 50 plus teams in the AAU Junior Olympic Games we had 26 teams from the East; 12 teams representing Virginia, 4 teams representing North Carolina, and 10 teams from Florida .Other states represented were Washington State, Puerto Rico, Illinois, Louisiana, California, Arizona and Hawaii . Teams played for two days competing for the Olympian title. The Virginia Beach boys 18 team, Shane Holderby and Jack Korte took the Silver medal in a tough battle against Jordon Yantin and Francisco Maldonado from Puerto Rico. Virginia had several other teams that made it into the semi final rounds but did not place in the medal rounds.
