SANTA CRUZ >> Five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings stepped up to the serving line of the newly installed beach volleyball court at Harbor High and asked, “Who wants it?”
Just one of the four Pirates girls volleyball players on the opposite side of the net bravely raised her hand to receive Walsh Jennings’s serve. Many more students turned out in favor of the court.
More than 100 took time out of their lunch break Monday to join a handful of school leaders, politicians and media to watch Walsh Jennings cut the ribbon and open the facility, which is located between the gym and the football field.
The court was donated by Good Tidings Foundation, a Northern California children’s charity. It is the 22-year-old charity’s 167th project and its fifth “Kerri Court.” Walsh Jennings gets to pick the locations, and she harkened back to her roots in choosing Santa Cruz County. She lived five of her childhood years in Scotts Valley and her cousin Marcia Wallace attended Harbor.
“This is where dreams are formed. This is where dreams are lived. And this definitely set the tone for where I am today,” Walsh Jennings told the crowd.
Walsh Jennings also wanted to seize on the chance to honor longtime Pirates coach Jim Reilly, to whom the court is dedicated. After leading Harbor to the county’s first state volleyball title in 1992, Reilly became an assistant coach at Archbishop Mitty, where he mentored a young Walsh Jennings.
Reilly passed away in 2015.
“It’s just a beautiful community that’s deserving,” she said, “and I’m biased because I grew up here.”
Monday marked Walsh Jennings’s first time playing beach volleyball in Santa Cruz — well, she served the first point and let eight Pirates players play it out — but she said she spent plenty of time on the county’s beaches while participating in Junior Guards.
This sand, however, was brought in from Seaside through a company called TMT, which also provides the sand for AVP pro beach volleyball events, according to Good Tidings founder Larry Harper. He said it is a step above the sand used in golf course bunkers.
After scouting several schools, Good Tidings approached Santa Cruz City Schools District in July about building the court at Harbor. After all barriers were cleared, it took three weeks and between $75,000-$100,000 to finish the court, its enclosure and the “amphitheater,” a berm built with the removed dirt and covered with sod. The school district will only be responsible for maintenance costs.
Harper said Harbor is a natural fit for the sand court, even if it might seem redundant for a school located two miles from a beach with volleyball courts.
“We get that a lot: ‘Well the sand’s right there, why don’t they go play?’ But it’s not the same,” Harper said. He added of play on the other courts, “It’s not going to be programmed and it’s not going to be coached. More kids at this high school will play here by far than on the beach, I guarantee you. It’s just right here.”
Unable to wait another minute, a throng of kids flooded into the gated court to get in a few points before the end-of-lunch bell rang. Among them was Genesis Smith. Smith, a junior outside on Harbor’s junior varsity team, also got a picture with Walsh Jennings.
“I cried a little bit,” she admitted.
Smith said she jumped up and down in excitement when she heard Walsh Jennings would be on campus. She’s equally excited about what the three-time gold medalist, who brought her bronze medal from the Rio Olympics with her Monday, left behind.
“We did a beach season last year and now that there’s a court here, it’s really exciting,” Smith said, “because now we don’t have to go anywhere.”
Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.
