The 2026 STARS tournament features action in four divisions, including the competitive division. File photo
Fort Macleod’s largest sporting event returns this week when the STARS volleyball tournament gets under way Thursday, April 16.
Thirty-six coed teams will compete in four divisions over four days to raise enough money to fund at least one mission by STARS air ambulance.
“The tournament has kind of a retro theme this year,” said Mike Bourassa of the Fort Macleod Volleyball Club.
There are fewer teams this year, with all games at Fort Macleod’s two schools.
The tournament was challenged this year by the renovation project at the Fort Macleod and District Sports Centre, where the concrete floor is torn out so new pipes can be installed for the artifical ice.
In previous years the committee had rented portable courts that went on the arena floor that allowed the tournament to accommodate up to 60 teams, with beer gardens held on site and the dinner and dance next door at the curling club.
The lack of courts forced the committee to scale back to 36 teams, with the beer league and recreation divisions playing all games at W.A. Day school and the intermediate and competitive division games at F.P. Walshe school.
The REO Hall this year will serve as the tournament’s base of operations.
Tournament registration opened at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday in March and by 8 a.m. the next day 36 teams were registered, with a waiting list.
Teams are coming from as far as Fernie, B.C. to the west, Edmonton to the north, and Saskatchewan to the east.
“It’s a bit of a volleyball reunion of teams,” Bourassa said. “There are teams that have been playing since the very beginning that book this every year because this is the thing they look forward to the most. They can’t wait to come back again.”
The tournament organizing committee includes Bourassa, Chelsie Wolff, Zach Grant, Leanne Neels, Lauren Roelofsen, Lindsey Zielinski, Abby Van Herk, Landon Schneider, Breanne Van Herk, Tom Lyon, Angela Martin, Brandy Sharma and Paige Knauf.
The volleyball club is partnering with the Fort Macleod Legion, which will host the warm-up bash at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 17.
The Legion is also the site of the tournament beer gardens from 12 noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
A breakfast buffet open to players and the public will be served from 7-11 a.m. Saturday, April 18 at the REO Hall.
The tournament dinner gets under way at 5:30 p.m. at the Fort Macleod and District Community Hall on Saturday night, with Brayden Van Driesten as master of ceremonies.
The dinner features a presentation by Jodi Wilson on her experience as a STARS patient, along with a live auction.
The dinner is followed by a dance that has a retro theme, with guests encouraged to dress in 1980s and ’90s styles. Hiway Productions will provide the music.
An on-line 50-50 draw is under way at www.rafflebox.ca along with an on-line auction at https://app.bidbeacon.com/#/auction/JHGG6N/details that runs until Saturday to supplement tournament fund-raising.
The committee has approached Fort Macleod and district businesses for financial support, with great success.
“The donations that are coming in from local businesses are actually up,” Bourassa said. “We weren’t sure how it would go because the tournament is smaller. I think people understand that it doesn’t matter that it’s smaller. They just want to give, and they realize how important a service STARS is.”
Rounding out fund-raising is a tournament calcutta, with the top three teams in each division winning $150, $100 and $50, respectively.
The tournament round-robin gets under way at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 16 with games at both schools.
“The only way we can make it work for 36 teams is if we start Thursday,” Bourassa said.
Tournament scheduler Tom Lyons has set games for 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Sunday is reserved for playoff games from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The first-place team in the competitive division will receive an $800 prize, with second place earning $480 and third place netting $400.
The intermediate division champion receives $720, with second place getting $400 and third place getting $320.
The recreation division winner gets $640, with $320 for second place and $240 for third place.
The beer league champion receives $560, with second place worth $240 and third place receiving $160.
The F.P. Walshe school grad class is handling tournament scorekeeping and the school’s leadership group is taking care of clean-up.
Bourassa is optimistic the tournament will be successful despite the challenges presented by the unavailability of the arena.
“We’ve met different challenges in keeping the tournament going,” Bourassa said of the event’s long history. “It’s always kind of neat to me that we are able to find different ways to keep on going. And some of the stuff that we’ve been forced to do has actually worked pretty good.”
