Michael Feeley trudges through the sand with a smile on his face, his hand nearly always waving. pending five years serving as the president of AC Volleyball, organizing charity events and year-round leagues, he relies on smiles and waves almost as much as serves and spikes. The Oregon native, 65, has been a staple on the courts for years. He came here for work when his employer, Cartier, wanted him to move to the East Coast. He chose Brigantine for the beaches. Now sand often coats Feeley's skin, and he usually has sunglasses on.
The AC Volleyball league has been around for about 30 years and now contains 42 teams, with 300 people who arrive every Tuesday at 6 p.m. during the summer at the Somerset Avenue courts. In the fall and winter, they play indoors. The players range in age from 6 to 60, from beginners to international athletes. They come here from blocks away and around the region. The players are connected by a white leather ball, the sand under their toes, friendship, enjoyment and sets.
As Feeley passed court No. 1 on a recent Tuesday, he saw his old friend Scott Dalaba, 44, who was a referee for one of the recreation-league games. Dalaba has been in the league since 1992 and plays in both its indoor and outdoor leagues. He used to play in two-man tournaments up and down in the East Coast. But Dalaba keeps coming back to Ventnor. "We're at the beach looking at the ocean," Dalaba said. "I love being on the beach. I look forward to playing out here every summer for those 10, 12 weeks that we get."
Dalaba has another reason to the love the Ventnor volleyball leagues - he met his wife, Angela, there in 1997. "I've made a lot of friends over the years," Dalaba said. "We get to hang out. It's summertime. We're outside."Dalaba's court that day featured several newcomers, including Tyrus Foxworth-Harrell, a 17-year-old from Egg Harbor Township. Foxworth-Harrell started playing beach volleyball last year with a group of friends at Tony Canale Park in Egg Harbor Township. Foxworth-Harrell didn't think he would enjoy it as much as he did, but he wanted to give it a try.
"I saw it on TV once and I thought it would be fun," Foxworth-Harrell said. "It reminded me of baseball a little, like when you get to hit the ball. Instead, you get to use your hands."He and his friends created a team for the AC Volleyball beach league last year, but most of them didn't come back this year as they get ready for college. But Foxworth-Harrell still wanted to play, and another team picked him up as a substitute. Feeley enjoys helping players such as Foxworth-Harrell learn the game, working with them before sessions to show them proper techniques.
That's what he did with Kim Lucasti. She and her friends created a team last year. They signed up for beach volleyball and had so much fun they continued into the fall indoor session. "Last time I played was in high school," said Lucasti, a mother of four from Longport. "I remembered how to serve. That was it. Mike taught us the finer points because we were all a little rusty."For Lucasti, volleyball is the one place she can get away from the daily grind. She doesn't need to worry about her children - although she checks her text messages between games to make sure they're OK - or her retail shop, Eleganza, at The Pier in Atlantic City. This is her escape.
"I always wanted to play volleyball on the beach," Lucasti said. "This happens to be the one night a week I can't think about anything else. I don't have to think about work. It's really very cathartic. Sometimes you do what just makes you feel good. You can't be stressed out on the volleyball court."The league isn't just for beginners. At the top division, "AA," some of the best players from the area compete - kicking up sand, diving for balls and knocking down kills as though they're on national television.
Some of the participants actually have played volleyball on TV, including Lynda Morales, who plays internationally for Puerto Rico's indoor team. Morales, who lives in Brigantine during the summer, spends five days a week playing during the day in Brigantine. Then, every Tuesday night, she's in Ventnor playing six-on-six. "It helps stay in the volleyball mode," said Morales, 23, who also has played professionally. "But this is completely different. It has a really good community atmosphere. I have never played beach professionally. It's just for fun."
Each Tuesday during the summer, that fun continues for Feeley. He's not playing this season while recovering from a knee injury, but he still does some referee work. That's how he usually ends his day.
But before leaving, he gives goodbyes to most of the players. They stop to give him hugs or handshakes on their way off the court.
They will be back again the next week and so will Feeley, with the organizer roaming the courts, smiling and waving, just as he has for the past five years. "I used to play the generation underneath me. Now I'm playing two or three generations," Feeley said. "I am not as fast or tall or quick as I used to be, but it's a great sport. You can still play at my age."