SEATTLE, WA - May 31, 2008
Minas Returns to Brazil
WVBA families were once again privileged to host 22 players, two coaches and one director from the Minas Tênis Clube of Belo Horizonte, Brazil for the past ten days. This is the fourth year that we have enjoyed hosting the Minas Tênis Clube in conjunction with the Emerald City Classic Invitational tournament in Seattle.

Ten families from WVBA hosted the Minas players in their homes for the past week and a half and their departure this morning brought many tears and even a spontaneous human barricade across the drive at the hotel to prevent the vans from driving to the airport. Thank you to all of the families and organizers from both clubs for working so hard to provide this unique opportunity to expand our two club's families across continents. We will post a photo gallery documenting the many activities (squeezed between daily shopping trips) that the families enjoyed with their new daughters/sisters from Brazil.

All of the members of Minas made it safely to the airport early this morning for their 24-hour journey home to Belo Horizonte. They will lay over in Atlanta briefly before connecting through Rio de Janeiro and onto Belo Horizonte where their other families will anxiously welcome them home. Their bags were more numerous and heavier for the return thanks to the very strong Brazilian Real (currency) and the free-market tax policies in the USA where many electronics and clothing can be purchased for half the price charged in Brazil.

Marcelo Melado, the Minas coach that originated this exchange with WVBA, did not make the trip as he and Carolina are expecting their first child, Maria Clara. His absence did not prevent him from participating in the shopping frenzy as he sent shopping lists for the new baby with virtually every member of the Brazilian entourage.


The highlight of Marcelo's shopping list was the new Jeep^® stroller complete with a built-in sound system for the Ipod^®.

Emerald City Classic
The 2008 edition of the Emerald City Classic Invitational went off so smoothly we don't know how we are going to improve on it next year.

Thanks to the over 4,000 volunteer hours worked by all of the WVBA families, and the leadership of Jim Clavadetscher, this year's event was even better than last year. We really didn't think that was possible.

We have to attribute this success to 'the Matrix', the 8 MB excel file created by tournament Czar Jim Clavadetscher over the past three years. This spreadsheet will bog down even the most souped-up gamer's computer, and is so complex it takes two days of training just to find your way around it...but does it ever work to keep us organized!

Thanks to Jim and Barbara Clavadetscher, the famed 'Matrix', and Tracy Nelson and Jackie Devich, the nearly 200 volunteers knew where they needed to be every minute of every day before, during and after the tournament to make sure all jobs were covered.

Please join me in thanking all of our outstanding volunteers for their tireless work and great attitudes that provided an atmosphere of fun while still allowing competitive volleyball to take center stage.

Nike^® NW 18 Air/Elite won the 18 open division for the second straight year. Led by their tournament MVP Kim Hill, Rod Jones' team defended their title over WVBA Mizuno 18 in the final on Court 1 Monday afternoon.

We enjoyed nearly 800 matches of competitive volleyball over three days and acknowledged 36 All-tournament award winners in the six divisions as well as three Candis Carter Inspiration Award winners out of nearly 2,000 players participating.

Please mark your calendars now for the 2009 ECC which will be held over Memorial Day weekend that falls on May 23-25, 2009. Registration will open in mid-November through signuptoplay.com.