Mon 09|06|10

Major regional volleyball tournament hits Fort Smith area (Correction)

Submitted by The City Wire staff on Sun, 01/31/2010 - 12:42pm.

story and photos by Ruby Dean
remmir7@hotmail.com

Battle at the Fort 2010 began Saturday (Jan. 30) with round robin play for all teams participating.

Correction: According to James Collins, a tournament organizer, 84 teams registered with bad weather allowing only 37 teams to attend. Teams from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri came to compete to see who is the best in the 15-18 year old divisions, with five of the 37 teams being Fort Smith teams.

Pool play was Jan. 30, with tournament play starting on Sunday (Jan. 31). The tournament is double elimination with the top team winning the gold. Tournament play for ages 10-14 is scheduled for Feb. 6-7.

Arvest Bank of Fort Smith 1s the presenting sponsor for the event.

Weather will prevent the 2010 Battle at the Fort from being as large as the 2009 event. In 2009, 156 teams (not counting 18 teams from the Fort Smith area) traveled to the Fort Smith/Van Buren area during the weekends of Feb. 7-8, and Feb. 21-22 in 2009. Also, the economic impact of the 2009 event was conservatively estimated at $2.49 million.

The proceeds will benefit the Fort Smith Juniors.  Plans for the proceeds include future scholarships, cost of traveling expenses, and building a facility of their own to use for future tournaments as well as practice.  The tournament is an annual event which is in its thirteenth year with the last 8 years being held at the Convention Center.

Three teams in the tournament are from the Fort Smith area. One of Fort Smith's team, Pink P.A.C., wanted a reason to play and therefore took on the cause of raising awareness about breast cancer.

P.A.C. stands for playing against cancer. Their uniforms are pink with a pink ribbon. The girls have helped raise money for the Donald W. Reynolds Cancer Support House which is located in Fort Smith and provides free, non-medical support programs and services to cancer patients and their family members.  Money raised will go towards things such as wigs and shower cards. The shower cards are hung in a shower and teach women how to do self-breast exams. The girls took a tour of the facility and got an up close look at services the Donald W. Reynolds Cancer Support House provides. 

Pool play was today (Jan. 30) with tournament play starting on Sunday (31st).  The tournament is double elimination with the top team winning the gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Numbers Correction

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 11:10am.

Please note that the number of teams registered and participating in this past weekend's session of the Battle at the Fort are incorrect.

"Thirty-two teams had signed up, but the bad weather resulted in just 14 teams competing" is incorrect. A total of 84 teams had registered and been accepted yet only 36 teams were able to compete this weekend. It appears the reporter only looked at the 15-year olds devision to come up with the 32 teams stat. 15 teams competed in that age division alone.

Next weekend's session already has 78 teams registered and accepted including 10 teams from the Fort Smith Juniors organization.

Please come out and support the Battle at the Fort as the Fort Smith Juniors volleyball organization continues to bring visitors and revenue to the River Valley region.

Volleyball Tournament

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 11:06am.

Just to clarify approximately 80 teams were scheduled to play this weekend however in light of the weather about half of those had to withdraw due to travel concerns. The article referenced 32 teams scheduled and only 14 actually competed but that was for one age group only.

This past weekend consisted of ages 15s through 18s, while the coming weekend will consist of ages 10s through 14s. Hopefully we won't have another winter storm come Friday and we'll get the full slate of 80+ teams coming in ready to battle it out at the Battle of the Fort.