Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Our sand courts would not be possible without endless support from so many people! If you see these people, thank them for their contribution to the volleyball community!

In the summer and fall of 2024, we replaced 400 feet of our Edge Guard safety covering. A HUGE thanks to the following people who made this possible!

Eric Schneider who designed the replacement to ensure maximum safety and longevity and lent us tools to get the job done.
Jimmy Calvetti who spent many hours at the courts ripping out the old and putting in the new; lent us tools as well.
Frank and Kathy Grossman and Liana Sheppard who donated their time to assist with the effort.
Dean and Erin Sarris who donated wood to replace bad wood.

Fast Motion New Edging.MP4

A big thanks to several awesome gentlemen who over the years have brought their tractors and York rakes to the courts to level the sand.

November, 2024: Thanks, Eddie Arnold, Jr for bringing your Kubota over to the courts and donated the better part of your afternoon to level the sand ahead of our next season of play! We appreciate you volunteering your time on the spur of the moment and preparing us to start 2025 right!
In 2021 & 2023, Ted Luszey brought his Kubota down to level the sand. We appreciate your repeated contribution of your time and fuel, Ted!
~2018: Rich Corcoran who brought his tractor to the courts to level the sand with a York rake.
~2017: Thanks to Robert Starace who brought his tractors to the courts to distribute the piles of sand added to the courts (and letting me drive the tractors too!)

Thank you to Jimmy Calvetti, Frank and Kathy Grossman and Viera Legatova for opening and closing the weekly Tuesday drop-in play many, many times over the years making it possible for players to come play for fun week after week, year after year!

~2021: Thanks to the Getters, the Nobles, the Suljics and ???? for donating funds to enable purchasing canopies to be shared by spectators and players alike!

~2018: A big thanks to Michael Dreyer who designed and installed a sprinkler system built atop two of the net poles, enabling the sand and players to be watered down with a flip of a switch. A nice touch I have not seen at any other courts!

~2016: Thanks to Eric Schneider who designed a better technique and materials to replace worn parts of the blue safety border. His optimizations provided room for the edging to slide with temperature variation and extended the life of the safety border. He also donated his time fixing areas that needed replacement.

Thanks to Tereze Stokes, representing the Brookline Historical Society, who investigated and wrote a story about the courts that was published in the latest book on the History of Brookline for the town's 250th anniversary. You've allowed the courts to be documented in perpetuity, Tereze!

Thank you, Gabby Monico and Jamie Monico Anderson for donating your time to organize and run youth clinics over three years, giving numerous younger kids their first taste of volleyball. Also to other high schoolers who helped coach at these clinics including Julia Guarniere.

A huge thanks to Chappel Tractor, who donated a York rake to enable us to level the sand each season!

Thanks to all the below businesses and families who donated their hard-earned cash to enable the building of this local treasure!

Rich Vertullo of Vertullo Landscaping deserves his own page for everything he has done to enable the courts. Rich has been my partner since Day 1 and before. These courts would not have even begun to have gotten off the ground without his incredible commitment to this project and the town.
- During the initial planning and construction, as head of the Brookline Recreation Committee, Rich managed all the approvals and planning on the town side of the effort. He got approval from the Selectboard and worked out the financial framework and budget to make this possible. He acted as general contractor to identify the location details, coordinate removing and donating the grass, digging the foundation, bringing in water, building the frame, reworking the sprinkler system, coordinating with the other sports programs affected by the courts and bringing in the town road agent to distribute the sand.
- Year after year, Rich has worked with me on so many functions, always available at the drop of a hat. To name just a few:
  - annual budget planning and scheduling
  - addressing maintenance issues
  - planning and scheduling the use of the grass for grass tournaments
  - working between baseball, soccer and volleyball to ensure fairness and cooperation in use of the park
  - keeping the grass looking outstanding for the best tournament grass in New England!
  - constructing the net to ensure safety of the players from baseballs entering the courts
  - putting up and taking down the net every year
  - coordinating availability of the bathroom, port-a-potties and garbage pickup
  - coordinating mowing schedules to not interfere with volleyball activities
  - and much, much more!
Rich, you're the best!

The construction of this beautiful facility would not have been possible without the generous assistance of so many people! Apologies to anyone I missed!

Tony Belden, the man who first recognized the need for a local place to play sand volleyball and brainstormed the idea with myself in August, 2013 in a restaurant in Milwaukee, WI.
Tad Putney, The Brookline Town Administrator who, when approached with the idea of creating a sand court at the Town Ballpark, told me to "think bigger"! This led to two and eventually three courts, enabling the over 25,000 visits to the courts since inception!
Kim Barron who led the fundraising effort to raise $8,000 to fund the materials, equipment and shed!
David Guay from Local Pro Sports who donated many hours and materials to create signage to acknowledge the financial contributors.
Tony, Russ and Bret Belden and Mike Kipp who transported, mixed and poured a full ton of concrete to install the poles.
Kirk Anderson and Russ Belden who built the shed that has lasted many more years than originally anticipated!
Steven Whitcomb of Whitcomb Plumbing who donated his time to install the drinking fountain.
Vlady Legatova, Eric Schneider, Wayne Ciarcia, Frank Grossman and serveral others who donated their time and tools to construct the court border.
Joe Cooper, who donated his carpentry skills to create the corners of the blue edging.
Matt Morrissette, who founded SpikeU Beach Volleyball, which led to a dramatic rise in the popularity of juniors' beach volleyball in New Hampshire and beyond and created the demand for northern New England's first public sand court facility.

And finally, to all the individuals and groups who have rented the site to run programs over the years:

Atlantic Coast Beach Volleyball (Josh Ambrosini)
My Social Sports (Thomas Granger)
New Hampshire Volleyball Club (Braden Zamore)
Northeast Beach Volleyball (John Kubilis)
SpikeU (Matt Morrissette)
Ahmed Ibrahim