Volleyball tournament boon for Florence

FLORENCE — No matter your political preference, credit Republicans for giving Florence’s economy a boost this weekend.

In a roundabout way, the Republican debate scheduled for Monday at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center is expected to pump $3 million into Florence and adjacent areas this weekend.

That’s because the debate has bumped a portion of this weekend’s Winter Bump Volleyball Classic from the Convention Center to the Civic Center here in Florence.

Fifty-six teams in the 13-, 14- and 15-year-year-old age divisions of the USA Volleyball-sanctioned tournament from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia will play on seven courts inside the Civic Center on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

And when the teams aren’t serving aces, digging up balls and putting down kills, some 2,000 participants and family members will be spending money at area hotels, restaurants and retail outlets.

“This event … is an excellent example of the Grand Strand and Pee Dee working together to increase our tourism in Northeastern South Carolina,” Peggy McLean, chairman of the Florence Civic Center Commission, said in a statement. “The tournament will feature many of the best junior volleyball teams and we are excited to welcome them to Florence.”

Civic Center general manager Kendall Wall said Florence landed the tournament during a meeting in Florence late last year that included the Florence Chamber of Commerce, the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce and presidents from Francis Marion University and Coastal Carolina University.

“The big picture here is ‘How can the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand work together on tourism and economic development?’” Wall said. “The volleyball tournament is our first opportunity to work together. We’re hoping this goes well and can be an annual event for us and lead to other opportunities between the Pee Dee and Grand Strand.”

Wall would like to see a volleyball tournament of this magnitude be an annual event for the Civic Center.

“The tournament officials and folks from Myrtle Beach love the (I-95/I-20) intersection at the Civic center. They love that there are quality hotels, restaurants and a shopping mall nearby,” Wall said. “This is a great place for a tournament like this to be played and it will have a very strong impact on the region.”

Wall said the Civic Center will receive a rental fee for hosting the tournament and will keep money from concessions. He did not disclose the amount of the rental fee.

The Winter Bump is hosted by Grand Strand Juniors, a five-year-old non-profit group in Myrtle Beach that has helped female volleyball players gain athletic scholarships in excess of $1 million the past four years.

There will also be 112 teams in 15-18-year-old divisions playing in Myrtle Beach locations, bringing the total number of teams in the tournament to 168.

Play at the Civic Center in Florence will run from 8 a.m. to about 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with championships in each division being played from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. on Monday.

Daily admission is $5 with ages 3-and-under admitted free. Parking is also free.

“This tournament will be a much higher level of volleyball than most people are used to seeing,” Wall said. “It’s a good opportunity, for instance, for college recruiters to come and see all these teams playing in one location.

“And with the three-day weekend (due Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday), a lot of people are going to be off the next three days and we hope they will come out and watch some really great volleyball.”