This Saturday we will separate the ladies from the gentlemen for the noon tournament along Bayou St John. The tournament will start at noon but please arrive early so we can seed teams appropriately. Women will play on a women’s height net while men will play on a men’s height net. There might be one net of reverse co-ed if we don’t have enough women to completely fill a women’s net. More information about MCVG’s monthly cycle of tournaments is available on our www.midcityvolleyball.org website.
Stuff to Do in N.O.
Should I wish myself a Hippy Birthday? If you don’t want to indulge my vices this evening and instead want to do something productive to support the community, then check out FOLC’s annual fundraiser this evening at the Basin Street Station or check out the Hootenanny for Grow Dat Youth Farms in City Park. Friday afternoon from 3:30-5:30pm you may want to enjoy the NOLA Green Roots Crawfish Boil fundraiser at Mid-City’s Wise Words Community Garden, and in the evening from 5-9pm you may want to pass by the Art Market at Treo (3835 Tulane Ave) to have a taste of their exotic drink specials or sample local cuisine from food trucks. The artwork above was created by Jennifer or her partner Emily at Mid-City’s BeadArt, and their work will be featured tomorrow evening in Treo’s upstairs art gallery.
Call for Volunteers
MotherShip Foundation is requesting local 501(c)(3) charity groups to step forward and help supply greeters for the 2014 Bayou Boogaloo. The free festival will be held Friday May 16 through Sunday May 18, and MotherShip needs volunteers to stand at the entryways and remind festival goers that no outside food or drink is allowed. The volunteers can promote the Bayou Boogaloo by selling T-shirts and they can promote their own organizations by spreading awareness. We would like to promote Mid-City Youth Volleyball and especially the summer junior league we will be offering starting May 24. We need to supply fourteen 4-hour shifts, and if we do so we’ll be entitled to a share of $5,000 that MotherShip Foundation is setting aside for the charities that help. We already have four shifts covered… can you help MCYV provide ten more shifts? Please contact Peter Hickman at phickm@gmail.com if interested.
Re-match of Tulane and LSU
Last weekend Tulane University’s sand volleyball squad traveled to Florida, and this coming Saturday the Green Wave will be traveling to Baton Rouge. Tulane played some good volleyball last Friday against one of the nation’s top programs, Florida State University, but lost all five flights of the closely-contested dual meet. On Saturday and Sunday Tulane participated in an enormous 30-team tournament in Siesta Key FL, and one pairs team of the Greenies squad made it all the way to the championship of the silver bracket. Two Tulane pairs teams played in the gold bracket and won every match until they each hit the buzzsaw of FSU. This Saturday Tulane will take on LSU and UAB in back-to-back dual meets at Mango’s Beach Volleyball (http://www.mangosvolleyball.com/) in Baton Rouge.
Par-tay!!!!
Come out tonight and celebrate Peter’s birthday to begin your holiday weekend. I intend to celebrate my birthday this evening as if I had just turned 21, if you know what I mean. I plan to check out the first week of the Armstrong Park “Jazz in the Park” concert series (Glenn David Andrews tonight) and then head to Mid-City’s Evangeline Lounge for the modern tradition of celebrating my birthday there every year. I’ll be at the Evangline Lounge at the corner of Toulouse and Murat by 8:30pm unless the concert is cancelled due to pouring rain in which case I’ll arrive at the Evangeline Lounge early. And yes, this Saturday is the annual Earth Day Festival, an event that took place along Bayou St John on my birthday weekend for several years. Sadly, the celebration has been re-located to Armstrong Park for 2014. As far as I’m concerned, the Earth Day Festival is the first casualty of the city’s new policies that in essence will diminish use of Bayou St John as a festival area. If we’re not careful, we’ll lose all the festivals and many other activities that we cherish along Bayou St John.
Bicycle Pub Crawl on 5/17/14
Don’t forget that MCVG will be leading its Sixth Annual Bayou Boogaloo Bicycle Pub Crawl on Saturday May 17. You can read the itinerary and register for the ride on the MCVG website at www.midcityvolleyball.org. This year we’ll have local singer and trumpeter James Andrews riding with us as a special guest, and as always the crawl should be great fun! Above is a photo from last year’s ride in front of The Seahorse Saloon… we’ll have a couple surprise stops this year, too.
We play Tuesdays
Just a reminder that MCVG sets up portable nets over the summer every Tuesday after work. We play from approximately 5:00pm to sundown, and I think we actually have enough daylight now to run a short tournament. We’ll play a doubles tournament for more advanced players on a couple nets while the rest of the nets will be devoted to pick-up games for less experienced players. By the way, there was an article in last week’s Mid-City Messenger about the transparency, or lack thereof, of The Greener Bayou St John Coalition in their effort to create a Master Plan for Bayou St John that may include regulation of activities along the banks of the bayou. You can read the article here: http://midcitymessenger.com/2014/04/08/neighborhood-groups-ask-for-more-transparency-from-greener-bayou-st-john-coalition/#more-5301
BCAP available at college championships
USAV’s Beach Coaching Accreditation Program will be offered during the 2014 college sand volleyball championships. BCAP I runs from Wed April 30 through Friday May 2, and Mid-City Youth Volleyball would love to see more of its instructors attain their beach coaching certificates. Please refer to last week’s newsletter for more details on the BCAP program in Gulf Shores AL. Remember, Peter Hickman will be traveling to the college sand championships with a couple friends, and there’s still room in the two-bedroom lakeside cabin of Gulf Shores State Park for more volleyball fans from Mid-City!
