Growler 2023 kick off letter!

As we are just over a month away from the start of Growler 2023 I just wanted to shoot out a note on a few topics of interest.  This is a long one but hopefully worth your time.

The general idea for Growler 2023 is to once again “run it back”.  Another theme we are trying to exemplify is “we heard you” and lastly a renewed focus on “why are we doing this”.

With that in mind here we go

Run it Back:

1. Same teams and same number of teams (36).  Same format. First 4 on Monday. Tourney GPI calculation is unchanged.  There will be moderate movement of teams among divisions to maintain as much parity as possible and reward the “up and coming” teams.
2. Registration cost stays the same plus a minor Processing Fee I’ll explain below ($83 Total).
3. All beer vendors back.  Most food vendors are back (sourcing some new ones).
4. GrowlHer is expanded (more games) and back at Lake Park Aug 12th
5. Sr Growler is expanded and moving to Greystone Aug 19th
6. Jr Growler will have an instruction phase in the morning and then a Competitive division (with more teams) in the afternoon to crown a Jr Growler Champion (at Springdale).
7. Volunteer tracking will be back for all Main Growler and satellite events and the plan is to have those roles available for selection as of July 10^th.
8. The team minimum for fundraising is unchanged at $1500 each.

We Heard you:

1. More seltzer… White Claw will be the seltzer sponsor for ALL Growler Events
2. Light Beer… we will have Miller Lite available at SARC (at least) every week.
3. We plan to set up and staff a Player’s pavilion to aid in providing each player a means of getting food, beer, Gatorade (Thanks Pepsi!), player bags (w/bands) etc away from where the masses congregate.  Details are still being ironed out, but we are committed to making this work.  GFL is poised to help us with this.
4. We are moving registration payments to “per individual” as opposed to “per team captain” and the payment will be performed online (thus the processing fee).  We will also be able to complete the Waivers online.  Mark will still send the roster to the captains this afternoon to fill out and set your squads and complimentary T-shirt order (* Please send your captain your size and color shirt that you want by next Thursday June 29th.  Colors are green, blue and gray.  Go to GrowlerVolleyball.com to see actual colors).  NOTE: We are not allowing for the purchase of Mulligan’s or extra T-shirts via registration this year (you can purchase these “on site” as needed).
5. With rising materials costs we did have to increase Growler Gear $5 per item this year, however, we are eating any credit card “fees” that we had in the past and waiving any increased cost associated with larger shirts etc.  AKA One flat fee for all items.
6. The Growleadership Team has partnered with the Lake Park Volleyball Board to make some physical improvements to the courts at Lake Park.  It’s been a great partnership which will provide expanded playing area around the Upper court, better drainage, and increased lighting throughout the property.  Special Thanks to Jacobs Construction (David) and GreenTech (Scott) for donating their labor, goods, and expertise to help make this happen.

Why are we doing this?:

1. The Growler Shirts this year focus on the Growler Kids that we have sponsored each year in addition to what we raised for St Baldrick’s.  The names of all 13 form the volleyball on the front of our T-shirts.
2. We are doing some more Media this year involving the Growler kids and will be providing that to you for your own knowledge and also to possibly use in your fundraising pleas.
3. As we are set to pass $1 Million raised this year, the CEO of St Baldrick’s will be in attendance on the last night.
4. Please go to St Baldricks and set up your individual page… All team pages are in place that you can associate yourself to.  I’ll be tracking how many pages compared to participants again this year.  I really would love for everyone to have a page and attempt some degree of fundraising.  It isn’t that hard and since we’ve never accomplished this truth before… if we do it then there’s no way we don’t set another donation record in 2023 J.  $175K is a big number to beat.  We need EVERYONE to help! https://www.stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/6792/2023 Click Join Us, select your team, and complete set up.

Thanks in advance for all that you all do to make the Growler a success each year.  Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I can promise we’ll do what we can to make this the best event possible.  More words as we get closer, but in the meantime get ready… IT’S COMING!

Bill Speri
Growler Tournament Director