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[quick note – no AI was used in writing this. Any bad grammar or punctuation mistakes were done completely by me]
The question I get asked the most – especially by people who are seeing or hearing about The Beach YYC for the first time – is why I started this business. Where did the idea come from?
Let’s start at the beginning.
At the end of 2016 I got laid off my from consulting job, as an IT Project Manager after 5 years working there. I enjoyed my time there, worked under a great boss, and certainly learned a lot about work, and as much about myself. Change was in the air though, and not just for me but for people across Calgary more broadly as well.
Before I was let go I knew I wanted to do something else, even though I still wasn’t sure what yet. But I had an idea – indoor beach!
This wasn’t a new idea I had come up with myself that day, it was something I had seen in other parts of Canada, notably in Vancouver, and thought would work well here in YYC too.
I spent much of 2017 doing research and writing a business plan to see if this business would work, so I spent that year as if I were at work. I woke up, got dressed and made a plan for the day. Research, writing, business plan. Exercise, stay focused and stay on target. Lots of days were spent at the Calgary Library, and about once a week I drove to Canmore to spend the day at the library out there, a change in scenery is good for everyone when you can make it happen. I only allowed myself one day per week to myself where I could stay in sweatpants and lounge around as I wanted, I mean I was unemployed after all!
My deadline was September, 2017 where I needed to make the decision that I would either move forward with this business, or find a job.
So when the deadline came, I had my business plan, I had funding through the BDC, ATB and some help from family
Why did I want to open a beach volleyball facility? How much beach volleyball do I even play? Well, as it turns out, I don’t play any beach volleyball! And I didn’t before either.
Throughout the research I had done I determined that for a space like this, beach volleyball is the main driver of business. At the time in 2017 I was playing a lot of competitive ultimate frisbee, and so I did bring that into the space as well, allowing for a season of beach ultimate during I was playing a lot of competitive ultimate frisbee, and I did bring that into the space as well.
My main priority for creating this community business was really to build another space where Calgarians (and beyond) could play and have fun all year round, with something that hadn’t been done here before – a dedicated beach recreation space.
But of course not just for beach volleyball, but for anyone and everyone that wants to come play here! We welcome a lot of kids who celebrate their birthdays with us, we love having adults do the same. We host corporate team building events, and tournaments of all kinds.
A few of the more interesting events we have hosted include Calgary Nude Recreation (our first event early on when I was still learning about the space), Beach Rugby and Beach Handball are regulars, we have had a couple photo and video shoots on the sand, and we also had Jubilations Dinner Theatre come and film some promo stuff for one of their shows. And we have loved every single one of those customers.
So there is the brief story of The Beach YYC! Thanks for reading.
Elliot Weinstein
Chief Beach Officer, The Beach YYC
