Date:
4/13/2010
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 575.562.2253
PORTALES--Eastern New Mexico University’s fifth annual Mud Volleyball tournament is set for Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m. in Portales on the lawn behind Lincoln Hall. Five volleyball courts will be available, and the final games will be played under floodlights in the evening.
Registration is open to the public.
Mud Volleyball is hosted by Associated Students of ENMU and the ENMU Foundation. The event is funded through ASENMU Student Government, which allows all the proceeds to go straight to student scholarships. Director of Mud Volleyball Brian Campbell says, “The goal this year is to award four to five $500 scholarships from the tournament.” The number of scholarships awarded depends greatly on the number of teams who register to play.
Not only is the Mud Volleyball tournament monetarily beneficial to students, it has social benefits as well. “It gets students involved with other students they might not meet. Underclassmen and upperclassmen don’t normally see each other a lot,” explains Campbell. Barbara James, director of campus life, believes it also lets students decompress before final exam week. “I think it’s a chance at the end of the year for the kids to get out, get dirty and have a lot of fun,” she says.
According to James, it takes a massive effort on the part of the students, the ENMU Foundation and all the sponsors to make Mud Volleyball a successful event. “The volunteers are out there from about 7 a.m. in the morning the day of the event preparing the pits, and that doesn’t even touch the numerous hours put in ahead of time for arranging and preparing food, connecting with sponsors, arranging the brackets and everything else,” says James. Work on the event began with the school year and "will continue until the trophies are awarded at the end of the day of the tournament,” says James.
Community members are greatly encouraged to register for the tournament. Anyone over the age of 18 is eligible. “It’s a chance for community members to come out, have fun and see that we aren’t just a bunch of crazy college kids,” says Campbell.
Business owners can sponsor the event itself and register a team to promote their business for free as a part of the sponsorship package. Since team members and their spectators don’t usually leave between matches, it’s a good opportunity for businesses to promote themselves to university students and community members,” says Campbell.
This year’s tournament offers a free lunch, concessions, t-shirts for participants who register on time and live bands.
Registration for this year’s competition will end on Friday, April 23 at 5 p.m. in the ENMU Foundation Office on S. Ave K in Portales.
To get connected to Mud Volleyball on Facebook, search for “ENMU Mud Volleyball” for updates and online registration forms.
For more information about registration, contact ASENMU at 575-562-2473 or the ENMU Foundation at 575.562.2412. For information about sponsorship, contact Brian Campbell at 505-976-8400.