Re: Volleyball in Austin, TX?

[Todd <tdh@vbref.org>]

Howdy Marc!

Check this out if you haven't already:
        http://www.io.com/~tdh/vball/austin/


Sadly, indoor open play opportunities are few and far between in
Austin, unless things have changed dramatically since I move from
there in late-96.  When I moved there in 94, my first priority was
finding open play...and I was sadly disappointed.  

The Austin Rec Center, and the Northwest Rec. Center are pretty much
the only games in town for decent hardcourt action.  They do have open
gym volleyball in between league sessions, but it's seldom advertised.
The up side is that such open gyms are free.  I did have some luck
playing open gyms on Sun. morning at the Univ. of Texas's big gym
facility.  You have to be a Business-Professional member (limited # of
memberships each year, but you needn't be affilitated with the
University at all), or know a student/member and pay the guest fee to
get in, though.


In Austin, it's very important to get hooked up with a team if you
want to play indoors on a regular basis.  Pick-up sand opportunties,
abound OTOH.  See the Austin Volleyball Bulletin Board at the URL
above to get your name out there, or to get info on other folks
looking to form teams.

And now for the eco/political slant: there has to be a down side to
having no local or state income tax...and the dearth of
publicly-sponsored sporting facilities was among the more annoying
facets of tax-free Texas.  Heck, here in Chicago, you can play an open
gym every night of the week if you wanted to...every suburb has its
own facilities, and open gym times.  Or maybe I'm just making myself
feel better here in late March having recently filled out that IL
state income tax return....


Best Regards,
--
                  Todd H.   tdh@vbref.org
USAV Regional Referee, Great Lakes Region, Palatine, IL
Todd's Volleyball Referee Page http://www.io.com/~tdh/vball/
"So you're a Ref and an engineer? Oh that explains it...."






"Marc Holmquist" <mholm@photodex.com> writes:
> 
> Is there anywhere in Austin for Open play?  I know there are leagues all
> over, but I just want A level or Open level open play.  I would even settle
> for BB.
> 
> --
> Best Regards,
> Marc Holmquist
> mholm@photodex.com
> Photodex Corporation
> www.photodex.com
> 
>