By Kelsey Burr

ORLANDO, Fla. (June 28, 2023) – “Let the games begin” – those four words in the official event program marked the start of the very first AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships 50 years ago.
 

On May 25, 1974, 19 boys’ and girls’ teams and almost 200 athletes took to the courts at Catonsville Community College in Maryland.

Back then, the event was sponsored by Chevrolet and called the A.A.U. National Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships.


Welcome letter from the 1974 event program

Steve Shondell, founder of Munciana Volleyball out of Muncie, Indiana, was at that first tournament as a coach – and his teams are still competing and winning in the tournament to this day.

“I was a freshman at Ball State, and I was playing on the men’s volleyball team, and my dad came to me. He received a letter from someone at the AAU named Dorothy Boyce. She said that they were going to have the first-ever AAU National Volleyball tournament. And he asked me if I would be interested in starting a club volleyball team and putting them in that first AAU national tournament,” Shondell said. 

Shondell gathered 12 girls’ players he knew onto a team and from there built a legacy.

“The girls were really excited when I told them we’d have the opportunity to play in the first-ever national tournament in the history of this country. We drove about 12 hours to get to Catonsville, and those 12 hours seemed like 24 hours to me because there was so much excitement about going to that first tournament,” Shondell recalled.


Munciana Volleyball team listed in the 1974 program

Roman Marushka, a volleyball official, was also at that first tournament 50 years ago. He skipped his high school graduation to attend. His team won silver that first year, then gold the next, and it was an experience he’ll never forget. 

“It was so well organized. It was a lot of fun. It made a big imprint on me as an individual, as a young kid. So, I’ve been associated with the AAU since then,” Marushka said. “I’m glad I’m still in it. I’m the type of official now where I’m doing it not only because I enjoy it and I get paid, but also to teach the kids.”


Roman Marushka's Kenneth Allen Volleyball Club

Since its start in Maryland, the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships moved to Michigan then Illinois before making a home in Orlando in 1997. It was the first volleyball event to be played in the Fieldhouse at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex and featured 127 teams.

“I’m probably the only coach in the country that’s coached at every national tournament venue that the AAU has hosted. That’s something I take a lot of pride in,” Shondell said.

The 50th AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships, taking place at both Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports and Orange County Convention Center, is the biggest year yet – featuring 5,194 girls’ and boy’s teams participating in 57 divisions.

Both Marushka and Shondell acknowledge the sport has grown exponentially and changed since 1974. 

“It’s a completely different sport now than it was, not only in the quality of play, but how the rules have changed over the course of time,” Shondell said. 

Marushka said it was true side-out ball back then – you could only score a point on your serve. Shondell explained that a block used to count as a touch, so a team only had two more contacts before the ball had to go over the net.

And while 50 years have passed, the love Marushka and Shondell have for volleyball has never faded.

“I coached, I played. Then I got into tournament directing and then volleyball officiating. It's been in my DNA. There will be a volleyball in my coffin,” Marushka said with a laugh.

“I just wonder where the 50 years have gone. It went by really quickly. But so many great memories. And I still stay in communication with many of the players who played on that first team. That’s one of the beauty’s of sports. If you have a positive influence on your players, they tend to want to stay in touch with you as their life goes on,” Shondell said.