Our Story!

In 1987 and recently out of college, Tom Davenport had a typical introduction to organized volleyball as a participant on a recreational Chamber of Commerce team in Denver, CO. The critical path that followed was far from typical. In 1988, he played his first outdoor coed grass 4x4 league with Volleyball Of The Rockies (www.votr.com), a 12 team summer program in Denver, and fell in love with the game. That fall he joined forces with a couple local players (Bob, Lee and Rich), and helped the team grow the league to over 40 teams for the summer of 1989, and 200 teams by 1993.

During May of 1993, a couple players in the VOTR league cornered Tom and Bob at the sponsor bar with an interesting idea. They had visited Cancun and played 8 days of volleyball with the same 4 players. It was a fun trip but they suggested that if VOTR could organize a bigger group to visit Cancun, the fun, and quality of play would take a step up. SOB Volleyball Vacations was thus born with the vision of running trips all over the planet for like-minded "volleyball junkies".

The inaugural 1994 SOB Volleyball Vacation to Cancun had 34 guests. The week included great times and memories like an epic lip sync contest, dancing with Coconut Palms, road tripping to Chitchunitza and peppering with school kids in the local villages. However, the wind and daily rains in Cancun created some "volleyball challenges" and the hunt was on for "the perfect volleyball beach". After Bob and Tom drove the entire west coast of Mexico (May, 1994), the decision was made to relocate to Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo area. The wide flat beaches and perfect weather made it an ideal location.

VOTR has since grown to include two indoor beach facilities in Denver (The Island + The Oasis), seven major 2x2 Colorado Tournaments (Beach Bash Doubles, Vail Doubles, Steamboat Doubles, Snowmass Doubles, Putterhead Doubles, Oasis Classic & Fraser Doubles) and year round programming that includes over 1,000 teams a week of grass, sand and hard court. SOB Volleyball Vacations has also grown, and has hosted over 8,700 players on 65+ tropical volleyball trips.  A 2nd location to Puerto Vallarta was added in the fall of 2009 offering more of a "VIP" experience at the 5 star Hard Rock Vallarta Resort. Due to high demand we another PV trip in 2017, now with 2 options one week before and one week after Thanksgiving. We added our 1st March trip in 2013, Nassau, Bahamas, and in 2014 we changed pivoted this one to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and haven't looked back!

Staff

Tom Davenport: Founder/Owner, SOB Volleyball Vacations. Tom has been organizing tournaments/leagues since 1988 including over 65 weeks of Volleyball Vacations "South Of the Border". Tom has yet to miss a Volleyball Vacation. He lives in Denver with his wife and daughters.

Bob Felton: Bob was instramental in establishing both VOTR and SOB, attending trips through 2002. Neither would exist without his vision and contributions. 

Russ Dix: Russ has been on every trip since meeting SOB in Ixtapa 2013. If you don't know Russ you have not been on a trip since before 2013. He is an amazing addition to the SOB team. Russ created the "new" breakfast club with games on at 7am every morning. Love you Russ!!

Will Stevens: VP of Operations, everything VOTR and SOB. After 10 years as General Manager of the Oasis starting in 2011, he moved to a top floor office. His first trip South of the Border was Ixtapa 2012, now a SOB vet with almost 20 trips of experience as well as all 3 locations.

Melissa Griese: Melissa has been the Controller for The Island/VOTR since 1998. In addition to her financial and operational duties, for 23 years she served as the point person for all Volleyball Vacations bookings, questions, etc. until 2021. 

Devin Milerowski: Director Island Programing and Facility. Joining our staff in 2019, Devin is now in charge of everything Island related. You will find him on SOB Volleyball Vacations by spotting the BIGGEST smile on the beach. 2019 PV marked Devin's first trip South of the Border!

Garret Morgan: Garrett joined us as GM of the Oasis in 2021. His first trip south was PV 2021 and we look forward to having him on many trips to come. He ran his first solo trip in Cabo 2024.

Cristian Martinez: Cristian joined VOTR in the tournaments department in spring 2022. His first trip was PV 2022 and we are ready for him to run his own trip 2024!

Past Coordinators....We would not be on the beach today without you!

Doug Arritola: SOB Tournament Director/ VOTR General Manager, Doug has been with VOTR since 2002 and directing play with SOB since 2005 (25+ SOB Trips). He has done all current locations including the Bahamas. He has organized over 1,000 tournaments, some as big as 650 2x2 teams and over 2,000+ players

Terry Milner: Associate League Manager. Joining our staff 2017, Terry is our Juniors Coordinator and assists VOTR/Island League Managers, including SOB Volleyball Vacations & is point man for all Mountain Events. 2018 Cabo marked Terry's first trip South of the Border and has since run PV 2018/19!

Chris Brown: Island League Manager. Joining our staff in 2012, Chris manages leagues & tournaments for The Island & all its subsidiaries including SOB Volleyball Vacations. 2013 Ixtapa marked Chris' first trip South of the Border, he is the Cabo vet on the staff and also has done all 3 locations.

Nick Stuth: VOTR League Manager. Joining our staff in 2012, Nick manages leagues and tournaments for VOTR, & all its subsidiaries including SOB Volleyball Vacations. 2013 Ixtapa marked Nick's first trip South of the Border, making him an Ixtapa vet, couple that with multiple PV trips, Nick has become a valuable SOB component.

Cody Christianson: Oasis League Manager. Joining our staff 2019, Cody manages leagues & tournaments for The Oasis and all it's subsidiaries including SOB Volleyball Vacations. 2020 Ixtapa marked Cody's first trip South of the Border.

Devan Pilarski: During his time with us he was the Oasis League Manager. Devan worked February 2016 - July 2019 organizing The Oasis leagues/tourneys. He was part of Ixtapa 2017/18 & PV 2018 and is now chasing his dream of becoming a college soccer coach.

Austin Cagaanan: During his time with VOTR & KIFAC Austin was head Volleyball Referee & Park Grass Manger as well as KIFAC (Kickball) Manager. He was part of Cabo 2019 and his last hurrah being Ixtapa 2020. He now works for Steamboat Parks & Rec.

Justin Reitz: He joined our staff 2015 as our associate league manager & ran our juniors events, assisted VOTR/Island League Managers, including SOB Volleyball Vacations & is point man for all Mountain Events. 2015 Cabo marked Justin's first trip South of the Border, and now has 2 Cabo's and 3 Ixtapa's under his belt. He has moved on chasing his baseball coaching passion!<?p>

Brandon Tarbell: Since Brandon started with VOTR in 2007, and was our lead park manager for our summer grass leagues in Denver and managing divisions at the mountain tournaments. Brandon's first SOB trip was in 2011, and did 6 straight trips. He is now living in Los Angeles CA.