At a time when Canada-U.S. relations are strained by trade tensions, thousands of volleyball players, families and friends from the two countries are in Montreal this weekend for the 81st edition of the North American Chinese Invitation Volleyball Tournament (NACIVT).
The tournament is serving up three days of competition at Palais des Congrès from Sept. 5 to 7, continuing a tradition that has lasted more than eight decades.
Tournament director Edmund Chan says the event includes participants well beyond those competing on the court.
“We have over 3,700 players in this tournament, both men’s and women’s combined,” Chan said. “Plus all the coaches involved, plus all the spectators involved, plus all the relatives involved. We’ll have over 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 people during the course of the tournament.”
Opening ceremony
The tournament’s official opening ceremony was held Saturday afternoon at Palais des Congrès.
Local dignitaries, community leaders and diplomats, including representatives of the United States, were invited to attend.
The ceremony featured a dragon dance performance as well as the singing of the Canadian and American national anthems.
A distinctive format
The tournament has separate men’s and women’s divisions, with the men playing nine-man volleyball and the women playing traditional six-player volleyball.
Chan says the men’s game follows a different set of rules that reflects the tournament’s Chinese and other Asian cultural influences.
“We have a different set of rules and guidelines that go along with the men’s game and in accordance with the Asian influence and the Chinese influence of our tournament itself,” he said.
The tournament is held every Labour Day in a different major metropolitan city in North America. Chan named Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston and Toronto among the cities that have hosted or participated in the tournament.
Building a team in Boston
For Amanda Lacey, being in Montreal is a milestone for the Boston Dragon Carps, the women’s team she founded.
The team is in its second year, making this its first international tournament in Canada.
Lacey, who is half Chinese and half white, says she has been playing nine-man volleyball since she was about 14. She also works as a coach and said she wanted to create a team where more of her players could compete together.
“I found it very important to find a place for a lot of my team members to play,” Lacey said. “So we formed our own team.”
Lacey says playing alongside her teammates is particularly meaningful because of the relationships they have built on and off the court.
“I’ve gathered some of the most special women around me,” she said. “We are some of the most talented women that have come out of Boston so far. We have nothing but good vibes and good energy and being able to compete with them is something that you really can’t compare.”
Seven years of playing together
For Toronto Shen Long player Daniel Chiu, the NACIVT is a tradition that started in Montreal.
“I actually started my tournament here in Montreal,” Chiu said. “It’s been a full circuit now. So I’ve played about seven years.”
Over the years, Chiu says the tournament has become a way to reconnect with friends and spend time together beyond the games.
“It’s just another way for us to come together and play together,” he said.
And not every team arrives with the same goal. Some are focused on winning, while others are there for the experience and the community.
“Some teams are here to compete and win,” Chiu said. “But also other teams are here to have fun, support one another. So you get a bunch of everything.”
“I think we all kind of share a love for volleyball,” he added.
More than a competition
For Chan, a sense of community is central to the tournament. He says the event is an opportunity to bring people together through volleyball while sharing Chinese and Asian culture.
“We want as many people we’d like to participate in our event,” Chan said. “We want to share our culture, we want to share our community and we want to share the cities that are involved as well.”
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