Shipley's Choice Retains title At Second Annual Volleyball Challenge

By Dylan Roche

Photos by Brian Lancione

Five local neighborhoods came together and the fun-filled spirit of competition was in the air on Saturday, April 2nd for the second annual Community Volleyball Challenge at the Severna Park Community Center. The event featured a full day of volleyball.

Community Center Executive Director Chris Marsala says the Challenge is all about “fun, fellowship and competition.” The Volleyball Challenge was designed to be a fund raiser for the Community Center, but also to bring the community together.

In the gymnasium at the Center, neighborhood teams played against each other throughout the morning in a series of six games. The top four neighborhoods go onto the semi-finals, and then the finals.

The only requirements to participate are putting together a team, registering, and coming out to the benefit at the Community Center. With no limit to the number of teams that can compete, Marsala hopes the annual Volleyball Challenge will grow throughout the years as more neighborhoods become aware of the event.

The competing neighborhoods this year were Shipley’s Choice, Olde Severna Park, Steele, Ben Oaks, and Whitehurst, from which there were enough people to form two teams, one in white shirts and one in blue. There was another team comprised of people from several neighborhoods that couldn’t field a full team on their own.

The challenge started at 9:00am and the first pool of teams — Whitehurst White, Ben Oaks, and Steele — played against each other. Following that the second pool of teams — Whitehurst Blue, Olde Severna Park, Shipley’s and Skabz (the conglomerate team) — took to the courts. The prevailing teams, the two Whitehurst teams, Ben Oaks, and Shipley’s, advanced to the semi-finals, which started shortly before 2:00pm. In the semis, Whitehurst Blue beat out Whitehurst White and Shipley’s Choice ousted Ben Oaks to set up the final match.

Whitehurst Blue and Shipley’s Choice were evenly matched, but it was Shipley’s Choice that won the finals, wrapping up the Challenge. The neighborhood was excited about winning, but after six hours of volleyball, they were ready to wind down. This was the second year in a row that Shipley’s Choice won the Challenge, leaving them to wonder if there is any real competition in Severna Park.

The award to the winners was a $200 gift certificate to Café Mezzanote, which they planned to use to go out for drinks and appetizers later that evening. As they made plans, some of them joked about how they would have to finagle joint babysitting so they could attend.

Shipley’s Choice is comprised of roughly 1,200 homes and it was a good opportunity for some of the neighbors there to meet one another and become friends. In fact, neighbor Debbie Young said half the team learned the other’s names today. Although Young plays volleyball and acknowledges there are not many opportunities to play, she says the bigger appeal of the Challenge is how it brought community members together.

“The main part of it is the neighborhood thing,” she says. “I get to meet more of my neighbors.”