17/04/2019 23:00
A success story – Göteborg BeachVolley Club to host historic World Tour event
2019 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Göteborg
Göteborg, Sweden, April 17, 2019. The very first World Tour event ever held in Sweden will start on Thursday at the iconic Beach Center owned by Göteborg Beachvolley Club. This will be the culmination of a long journey that began 25 years ago, namely in 1993, when a company with a private owner started the first indoor facility for Beach Volleyball in Sweden, with five courts in a small industrial building. A group of enthusiastic people started to practice almost every day and they soon realised that it was a good idea to establish a sports club, Göteborg Beachvolley Club (GBC).
Even back then, in the early stages of GBC, there was a dream about building the largest indoor centre for Beach Volleyball in the world. However, the journey turned out to be harder than anyone could imagine.
“We were a bunch of enthusiastic Beach Volleyball lovers in the early spring of 1993. We had six members, Tom Björner, Marie Bubach, Camilla Melkstam, Peter Eriksson, Erik Björk and Ulf Norman,” recalls one of the local pioneers. “During that spring, we organised Thursday-Friday the Swedish Championship qualifying event with a large number of teams and Saturday-Sunday, the Skandia Tour, a 12-team double elimination tournament. Winners of the men’s competition were Tom Englén and Fredrik Pettersson, who later played when Beach Volleyball made its Olympic debut in 1996 in Atlanta. All six members worked at least fifteen hours a day to do this.”
By 1998, the GBC had grown from a bunch of friends, wanting to have fun, to a club with a lot of training groups and as many as 240 members. At this stage, the private company suddenly went bankrupt with a big rental liability. The club started a process to take over the rental contract and the business but had one issue raised from several external parts involved, how could they possibly think to succeed when a private company had failed?
However, in September 1999 GBC started to run the facility by their own. The club remained in the rented building for 12 years. During that time, they developed both the club and the corporate structure, becoming stronger and stronger. Next to this, they worked on the ultimate project, building their own indoor centre for Beach Volleyball. Finally, in November 2011 it was ready for opening, a Beach Center situated in Kviberg with 16 indoor courts, 6 outdoor courts, a restaurant, a beach bar and a gym. The biggest indoor Beach Volleyball facility in the world!
The countdown to the first historic World Tour event has almost ended in Göteborg.
Timeline
• 25 years ago Göteborg Beachvolley Club (GBC) was born. Member number 1 was Ulf Norman.
• 20 years ago, GBC took over the management of the original facility.
• 15 years ago with Ulf in charge and a fully owned facility, the business takes off well and passes 1,000 members. A key thing at this stage was Ulf working with a local school that attracted players from all over the surrounding area.
• 10 years ago, the dream of building the world’s largest Beach Volleyball indoor facility became a reality. In 2011, the Beach Center opened in the eastern side of Göteborg.
• 7 years ago, GBC hosted the first international Tournament, a NEVZA zonal event.
• 4 years ago, GBC started an elite team with 12 talented players who are aiming for the World Tour.
• 2 years ago, GBC hosted a CEV Satellite and repeated that the following year.
• 1 year ago, the decision was made to apply to host a World Tour stop in 2019.
Thursday will be the D-Day to kick off the historic World Tour competition right there in the heart of Göteborg Beachvolley Club.
Beach Center - The world’s biggest venue for Beach Volleyball
The members of the association of Göteborg Beachvolley Club, GBC, own Beach Center. Everyone is welcome and the club offers training for all levels and all age groups. Beach Volleyball is a sport that you can play no matter of age and it is both fun and rewarding from beginners to elite.
GBC take a big social responsibility as an association and their goal is to attract all groups of the local society. They host collaborations with refugee camps and other disadvantaged groups and try to use the sport to spread joy, inspiration and friendship.
The club GBC has over 1,500 members between 5 and 69 years of age.
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