Commission approves IBVL beach-volleyball series for Hermosa courts, excludes March 30 date

The Parks and Recreation and Community Resources Advisory Commission voted 3-2 on Jan. 7 to recommend approving the Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League (IBVL) tournament series on the volleyball courts north of the Hermosa Beach Pier, excluding the group’s requested March 30 date.

Commissioners and staff debated how the IBVL schedule would affect the city’s special-events calendar. Lisa Nichols, Community Resources Director, told the commission that accommodating the IBVL request would increase the city’s volleyball tournament event days by six for 2025 and could make scheduling future requests more difficult. "We currently permit 72 days of volleyball tournaments from 11 different organizations," Nichols said during the public-hearing presentation, noting the commissioners had previously discussed the feasibility of continuing to accommodate growing requests from volleyball organizations.

Gino Grajeda, representing the IBVL and the International School Sport Federation (ISF), said the series supports high-school athletes preparing for regional and international competitions. "IBVL is a high school league based in California," Grajeda said. He told commissioners some March and April dates are qualifiers leading into the ISF Pan American competition in Santa Monica and that several local high schools (including Mira Costa and Redondo Union) regularly participate.

Commissioners expressed differing priorities. Commissioner Tom Maroney said he would not vote to approve two March dates because doing so would exceed the city’s monthly limit for events in March; other commissioners emphasized youth-sports benefits and recommended giving priority to qualifying dates for high-school athletes. Commissioner Lauren (first name only in the record) and others said they were willing to approve key dates that directly support high-school competition.

After discussion, a motion to approve the entire IBVL series except for March 30 carried 3-2. The record shows Chair Lang voted yes, Vice Chair Peyser Mainz voted no and Commissioner Allman voted yes; other votes were recorded in the tally but not attributed to specific names on the public record. The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for any final approvals or permits required under the city’s special-events process.

The staff report and public discussion noted two scheduling constraints: (1) adding the IBVL dates increases the total number of volleyball event days the city manages, and (2) approvals that grow the number of event days can complicate balancing dates among competing organizers in future years.

The applicant said several dates are prioritized because they qualify athletes for continental competition, and that many IBVL events take place off-peak (January, February, November, December) or during school-season windows when CIF permissions apply. Grajeda said some dates are intended to serve as trials or qualifiers for U.S. athletes to reach international competitions.

The commission did not approve exceptions to any other policies at the meeting; staff will carry forward the recommendation and any permit details to the council-level review. The commission asked staff to continue tracking how volleyball-organizer requests affect annual event capacity and to report back if mid-year conflicts arise.