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(Image Credit: supplied by Patruck Beuckert.)
By Curtis Galbraith
Beach Volleyball

Community effort leads to doubling the number of beach volleyball courts at South Bear

Jun 5, 2026 | 12:00 PM

The number of beach volleyball courts at a Grande Prairie facility has doubled.

A recent expansion at the beach volleyball facility at South Bear added four new courts. 

Grande Prairie Beach Volleyball league volunteer Patrick Bueckert says the city contributed $200,000 a year ago; which is half of the cost. The league had trouble raising enough money after that. 

“But, the strength of our community, and, specifically , in this case, Green Acre Ventures coming forward and being willing to do it for what we had, and doing it right now, (we) shook hands and two weeks later they began construction, and they finished it three weeks later. (That) is phenomenal.” 

Green Acre Ventures donated $50,000 worth of work, with the league contributing $83,000. 

Helix Engineering also donated some work. Aquatera cuts its rate in half to haul away trees that had to be removed.  

Bueckert says the league has seen a 30 per cent increase in registration numbers, or 195 teams. The courts are also open two days a week for public use. 

“Per week, you’re looking at about 800 players. That’s not including all the substitutes. In the summer, people go on holidays, so, realistically, the number of participants, it’ll be somewhere between 800 and 1000 people that play beach volleyball here, not including all the spectators that come.” 

Bueckert adds last year, registration filled in 18 minutes, with 150 more people added to a wait list in an hour. The league also had calls and emails from others wanting to join. 

He says there has been “a lot of buzz” about the new courts opening. 

“It’s also really neat because when you have eight courts now there are more people there at the same time as well.” 

“Lot of buzz. Lot of excitement. Obviously, it’s the beginning of the season. It was a long winter. People are simply excited to get out and play again, but everyone is really appreciative of just how fast we’ve gone from having to turn away hundreds of people to now, everyone gets to come in and play.” 

The new courts opened at the end of May. 

Bueckert says 28 truckloads of a particular type of sand had to be brought in from elsewhere in Alberta for the courts.  

He adds volleyball is the most popular sport in Alberta for girls and women to play, with more participants than hockey and basketball.  

Grande Prairie Beach Volleyball will host its Summer Luau Beach Volleyball Tournament Saturday and Sunday (June 6&7) at the newly-expanded South Bear courts. This is for boys and girls aged 13-18.

by Curtis Galbraith