Hard Court (indoor) Volleyball in Austin, TX

Disclaimer!! I do not speak for any of the organizations mentioned below...I merely participate in their events!

Hard Court (indoor) Volleyball in Austin, TX

Austin Recreation Center Leagues

The most well-known variety of hard court play in Austin is organized by the Austin Recreation Center (ARC) 1301 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, TX 78701. Between volleyball seasons, poorly publicized but cost effective (free) open gym volleyball is available. Indoor leagues are available year-round including:

Men's, Women's and Co-Recreational
B, BB, A skill levels.
3 and 6 person leagues depending on the season

Matches are held at the ARC and the Norwest Recreation Center (near 2222 and Mopac). For more information, call league organizer Kent Mason at the ARC at (512) 476-5662. These leagues are very popular, so be sure to mail your team entries promptly.

University of Texas Recreational Sports

If you can manage to gain access to these facilities, UT has a number of open-play opportunities available. For non-students and those not affiliated with the University, a Business-Professional membership to all of UT's facilities is available for a little over $300 annually. This program is rather popular and spots are limited. Call UT's division of Recreational Sports non-student programs at (512) 471-5234 for more information on this membership.

In any case, if you know a UT student or BP member, the guest fee for the facilities at Bellmont Hall and the Recreational Sports Center is a mere $5. Open play schedules for volleyball vary from quarter to quarter. Printed schedules are available at these facilities.

USA Volleyball Tournaments (Fall-Spring)

USA Volleyball, the national sanctioning body for volleyball in the US, organizes both junior olympic and adult tournaments all over central Texas. Austin is within the Lone Star Region of the USAV. The USAV indoor season runs roughly from October to April of each year.

Teams and players pay a one-time registration fee for each season to be registered with USA Volleyball and eligible for USAV-sanctioned tournaments. Each tournament has a maximum $75 (1996-97 fees) team entry fee. Teams can participate in as many tournaments as they wish. Each tournament is a faily stand-alone event, although the USAV (I believe) tracks the performance of each team so that proper seedings can be made in subsequent tournaments.

Teams can be stand-alone, or part of a volleyball club. Clubs typically form to share gymnasium rental fees for weekly practices. For instance, I am a member of the Homeboys Volleyball Club which consists of a BB level team (Homeboys) and a B level team (Homeboys 2). Our club practices every Thursday during the USAV season. Since tournaments are typically separated by level of play, the clubs' teams rarely compete at the same tournament.

Tournaments are typically held on Saturdays starting at 8am and lasting into late afternoon or early eveing (depending of course, on the size of the tournament and whether you make it to the playoffs). The tournaments are typically a round-robin format of 4-6 team pools. The top 2 teams in each pool generally go into the playoffs. T-shirts are the typical prize for winning these amateur tournaments.

Tournaments for the various skill levels (B, BB, A, AA) are scheduled throughout the region in Austin, Seguin, Lockhart, San Antonio, Houston, College Station, and Corpus Christi.

Austin is under the jurisdiction of the Lone Star Region of USA Volleyball. If your are interested in forming your own team, you can get a registration packet and more information from

    USAV Lone Star Region Commissioner 
    Will Vick 
    515 O'Daniel School Road, Seguin, TX 78155-0529 
    210/303-7905(h)  210/372-3124(fax)