History

The Steamboat Doubles Volleyball Tournament started in the mid-80's when the local Chart House restaurant sponsored the original event. The Steamboat Parks and Recreation District took the reigns in the 90's, and in 1995, local player, and ex-announcer of the Molson Volleyball Tour, Red Cunningham, took over the event.

Red Cunningham's announcing skills added color to the weekend, as did his relocating the event to coincide with the Steamboat Hot Air Balloon Festival and Steamboat Arts and Crafts Fair. Red also secured the Steamboat Brewery as a sponsor and Friday night check-in took place each year with a complimentary draft at the Brewery's restaurant on main street. The event was also renamed "Steamboat Powderkeg Volleyball Tournament" drawing attention to the Brewery's Powderkeg Ale. Red also teamed with Denver based SOB Volleyball Vacations to promote the weekend. SOB Volleyball Vacations coordinated $170 weekend packages that included lodging, tournament fees, VIP pancake breakfasts at the courts, and a Salmon 'n Steak 'n Margarita Poolside Saturday night dinner. The event saw steady growth in the "Red Years".

In 2001, Red's job relocated him to Basalt, CO, and he contacted Volleyball Of The Rockies (VOTR) regarding the future of the tourney. VOTR/SOB took over management and added their own touches to the weekend.A Friday Dinosaur Division was added in which the combined ages of the players must meet or exceed a predetermined number of 80 years. The Dinosaur Division has sold out each year and the Dino finals serve as entertainment as the weekend players are arriving at Howelsen Beach. The addition of live music (provided by Ken Lee) at check-in has made it well worth leaving work early on Friday in order to be in Steamboat in time to enjoy the music and final match!

>VOTR added the Women's Open Sand Division and Coed Sunday play in 2003 . Thanks to the hard work of local Colorado players, the women's sand scene in Denver/Boulder grew steadily from 2000-2006. Women's sand divisions were added to front range tournaments and Steamboat followed suit. The women's teams actually outnumbered the men's teams for the first time in 2007. The one-day grass division formats allows players to play both single gender divisions as well as Coed on Sunday.

With only four courts in the Steamboat valley, the tournament has a cap of 48 total sand teams. In 2006, the volleyball courts at Ski Hill Park, were torn down to allow for the expansion of the Steamboat Tennis Center. This reduced available courts to 3, so VOTR partnered with Parks and Rec to build another main court. As the weekend continues to grow we hope that the park district will allow the expansion of Howelsen Beach to include a fourth sand court in conjunction with the Whistler Court.

Steamboat Doubles continues to be one of the top volleyball events in the country, drawing over 550 teams to the heart of the Colorado Rockies. Each year the event hosts teams from states like Utah, Nebraska, New Mexico, Washington, Illinois, California, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota etc. as well as a huge contingent of players from all over Colorado!

The Steamboat Doubles Volleyball Tournament started in the mid-80's when the local Chart House restaurant sponsored the original event.  The Steamboat Parks and Recreation District took the reigns in the 90's, and in 1995, local player, and ex-announcer of the Molson Volleyball Tour, Red Cunningham, took over the event.  

Red Cunningham's announcing skills added color to the weekend, as did his relocating the event to coincide with the Steamboat Hot Air Balloon Festival and Steamboat Arts and Crafts Fair.  Red also secured the Steamboat Brewery as a sponsor and Friday night check-in took place each year with a complimentary draft at the Brewery's restaurant on main street. The event was also renamed "Steamboat Powderkeg Volleyball Tournament" drawing attention to the Brewery's Powderkeg Ale.  Red also teamed with Denver based SOB Volleyball Vacations to promote the weekend.  SOB Volleyball Vacations coordinated $170 weekend packages that included lodging, tournament fees, VIP pancake breakfasts at the courts, and a Salmon 'n Steak 'n Margarita Poolside Saturday night dinner.  The event saw steady growth in the "Red Years".

In 2001, Red's job relocated him to Basalt, CO, and he contacted Volleyball Of The Rockies (VOTR) regarding the future of the tourney.  VOTR/SOB took over management and added their own touches to the weekend.   A Friday Dinosaur Division was added in which the combined ages of the players must meet or exceed a predetermined number of 80 years.  The Dinosaur Division has sold out each year and the Dino finals serve as entertainment as the weekend players are arriving at Howelsen Beach.  The addition of live music (provided by Ken Lee) at check-in has made it well worth leaving work early on Friday in order to be in Steamboat in time to enjoy the music and final match!

VOTR added the Women's Open Sand Division and Coed Sunday play in 2003 .  Thanks to the hard work of local Colorado players, the women's sand scene in Denver/Boulder grew steadily from 2000-2006.  Women's sand divisions were added to front range tournaments and Steamboat followed suit.  The women's teams actually outnumbered the men's teams for the first time in 2007.  The one-day grass division formats allows players to play both single gender divisions as well as Coed on Sunday.

With only four courts in the Steamboat valley, the tournament has a cap of 48 total sand teams.  In 2006, the volleyball courts at Ski Hill Park, were torn down to allow for the expansion of the Steamboat Tennis Center.  This reduced available courts to 3, so VOTR partnered with Parks and Rec to build another main court.  As the weekend continues to grow we hope that the park district will allow the expansion of Howelsen Beach to include a fourth sand court in conjunction with the Whistler Court.

Steamboat Doubles continues to be one of the top volleyball events in the country, drawing over 550 teams to the heart of the Colorado Rockies.  Each year the event hosts teams from states like Utah, Nebraska, New Mexico, Washington, Illinois, California, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota etc. as well as a huge contingent of players from all over Colorado!