Volleyball Teams Seek to Make Statements

Neal Newman’s idea was simple when he started the California Volleyball Tournament of Champions in 1987.

Newman, volleyball coach at University High, wanted to give boys an opportunity to play against some of the best competition in the state before a crowd that included college coaches in search of players.

Forty teams competed in the one-day tournament at UCLA in 1987.

Now the event is regarded as perhaps the premier boys’ event of the season, the closest thing to a state championship tournament for boys.

On Saturday, 50 teams from the City, Southern, San Diego, Central and Northern sections will begin pool play at Cal State Northridge, Chatsworth and Woodland Hills Taft. The championship match will be played Saturday night at Northridge.

“A lot of great players who were in this tournament have gone on to UCLA, USC, BYU, San Diego State and other schools,” said Newman, in his 19th season at University. “It’s been a great thing for college coaches because they can come to one place, in the middle of their own seasons, and see all these kids play.”

University, San Pedro, Venice, Roosevelt, Garfield, Fairfax, Bell, Van Nuys, Van Nuys Grant, North Hills Monroe, Granada Hills, Granada Hills Kennedy, Chatsworth and Taft are City Section teams in the field, which is divided into 10 pools.

There are 24 teams from the Southern Section and four each from the San Diego, Northern and Central sections.

The California Interscholastic Federation made boys’ volleyball a sanctioned sport in 1974, but unlike girls’ volleyball there is no state tournament.

More than 300 schools field boys’ teams, fewer than half of the more than 700 girls’ programs, Newman said.

“For girls, volleyball is considered a major sport,” Newman said. “A real boys’ state tournament has never come to be, we’ve been told, because of logistics and cost.

“Our tournament is designed to help fill that void.”