New volleyball center planned for Carson

Already the site of one of the top swimming facilities in the state, Carson City promises to become the location of one of Nevada's best volleyball facilities this summer.

The location of the new facility, the Silver State Volleyball Club, is proposed for the building at 4251 Highway 50 East. That building is one of the few in Carson City that has the 30-foot high ceiling necessary for volleyball.

The Silver State Volleyball Club will be the first facility in Northern Nevada devoted to volleyball and will have a minimum of four volleyball courts. Las Vegas is the only other city in Nevada with a volleyball facility.

The Silver State Volleyball Club is the brainchild of Clay and Tracey Thompson, who moved to Carson City from South Tahoe about two months ago to see their dream of beginning an athletic facility focused on volleyball come true. The Thompsons are almost positive that the volleyball facility will open by the end of the summer, as the proposed site is currently in escrow. Once that deal is closed, the building will require a few adjustments before it will be open for volleyball and a number of other sports.

The Thompson's dream of opening a volleyball facility began when they were living in Hawaii, but it was too expensive to build one in Hawaii. They then moved to Tahoe, but there were no buildings of sufficient height, and the cost of building a facility from the ground up would have been difficult due to the area's numerous building regulations.

"We started looking down here in the Carson City area and seeing if a volleyball site was needed," said Clay. "We then got involved with Joel Dunn at the recreation center and he said, 'Definitely, we need court space.'"

The addition of the Silver State Volleyball Club promises to alleviate some of the crowding at Carson's sports facilities. The club will host adult and youth volleyball as well as serve as a home for the Silver State Volleyball Club's competitive teams. Thompson is the director for those teams.

"I would say the potential for volleyball growth is unlimited," Clay said. "With the amount of kids we have in this area, I can see volleyball becoming like AYSO soccer."

The facility could potentially allow Carson High to become the first Northern 4A Zone high school to form a boys volleyball team. Boys volleyball became an NIAA sanctioned sport this year and is played widely in the Las Vegas area.

The proposed site will be about 20,000 square feet and will boast a Terra-Flex floor that will allow athletes to play a number of sports other than volleyball, including basketball, gymnastics, cheerleading, karate and aerobics - even a climbing wall. Thompson also foresees the possibility of racquetball and batting cages at the facility.

The facility will be open to the public on either a membership or one-day drop-in fee basis.

The Thompsons said people who may be interested in sub-leasing space from them are welcome to contact them. For information on leasing or for general information on the Silver State Volleyball Club, call 884-3535 or write to silverstatevballclub@earthlink.net.