Volleyball continues to grow in popularity in the Okanagan, throughout BC, across Canada and around the globe. It is the 5th most participated sport globally with 935 million athletes. Vernon has a rich Volleyball history with the Vernon Volleyball Club founded in 1975, by Denis Murdoch which has been inducted into the Volleyball BC Hall of Fame. The club was rebranded in 2017 under the new name of SKY Volleyball.
SKY is a non-profit society with a fantastic volunteer presence including 55 coaches, 13 board members and the hundreds of parents and alumni to deliver programing and training to over 450 athletes annually.
We are blessed to have SKY Gateway, which is our current 2 court training facility. It has provided us with a much-needed home, especially during Covid when rentals were non-existent. This home has also allowed Beyond Sport Volleyball Academy to operate, and the ability to host many High Performance Training and Education Events with Volleyball BC and Volleyball Canada.
SKY Volleyball Club is the second largest club in BC with over 450+ members from ages 10 to 18 years old.
SKYDome is a vision for a volleyball facility in Vernon. The proposed structure (left image) will hold 8 indoor courts and have 4 beach courts outside. This facility will become a mega-center for club & high school tournaments, camps and additional programming like adult rec leagues as an example. Potentially bringing $1,200,000 of revenue to the community through expenditures of hotels, gas, food, etc from the 7,000+ athletes that SKYDome would host.
Tradeshows and Conferences could also be held in this building, which as designed would be 3.5x larger than a sheet of ice or 7.5x larger than the Vernon Ballroom.
UPDATES
March 13, 2022: SKY Volleyball approached the City of Vernon to include the SkyDome into the Kin Racetrack Redevelopment Plan.
Sky Volleyball seeking city support to build sports dome in Vernon - Vernon News - Castanet.net
April 2, 2022: Revamped plans still excluded the SkyDome concept, but the SKY Board of Directors still remain positive that if the SKYDome does not happen at the Kin Racetrack, then there are other possibilities within City limits.