OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Waupaca Boatride started as a small volleyball tournament more than 40 years ago. Today, it has grown into one of the largest outdoor grass volleyball events in the world, bringing thousands of players to northeast Wisconsin every summer.
But for the people who return year after year, the tournament is about more than wins and losses.
“It is a family picnic, honestly,” Waupaca Boatride director Eddie Zelhofer said. “You see hugs all weekend long. You kind of move away and then you come back for this one weekend a year, and it’s fun to see.”
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This year’s event at Brighton Acres in Oshkosh featured more than 13,000 players across nearly 450 courts, continuing the tournament’s record-setting growth.
For players, though, the size of Boatride is only part of what makes it special.
“It honestly, I’m not the only one who thinks this or says this,” Rachel Hall said. “It feels like a family reunion. Everyone’s in a good mood. We’re playing volleyball. The thing that we love that is probably what brought a lot of us together.”
From a paddle boat ride to a world record event
The name Waupaca Boatride traces back to the tournament’s early days in Waupaca in the 1980s.
Zelhofer said the event began much smaller, with players creating their own tradition after matches.
“The tournament itself started in the 80s,” Zelhofer said. “It was smaller, it was much smaller and it was in Waupaca. And when people got done playing, they would go to the Harbor Bar and they have a big paddle wheel that goes around and they would throw some beer on a paddle boat and they would ride around. So thus the name.”
Zelhofer first started playing in the tournament in the late 1990s and gradually became more involved as the event continued to grow.
The tournament eventually moved from Waupaca to Wisconsin Dells, where Zelhofer said more players from Minnesota began traveling to compete. From there, it moved to Oshkosh, including stops at the Country USA grounds and EAA before finding its current home at Brighton Acres.
The partnership with Brighton Acres helped the tournament continue expanding.
“It was a family farm and they didn’t know exactly what they were going to do,” Zelhofer said. “They wanted sports. They ended up going to become a wedding venue because of their barn, and it’s a beautiful wedding venue.”
“They still do have the sport aspect with our event, obviously, and we’re working with the owners of Brighton Acres. We’ve really cultivated this what it has become now.”
Zelhofer said Brighton Acres has continued making improvements to accommodate the tournament’s growth.
“They have really transformed their grounds to make it bigger and better for us every year,” Zelhofer said. “A lot of his neighbors, I think there are seven if I counted correct, are all involved in one way, shape or form parking and camping and extra playing area this year we added, so it’s really grown a lot.”
A tournament built around relationships
As Boatride has grown, so has the experience surrounding it.
Zelhofer said one of the biggest things first-time visitors notice is the sheer size of the event.
“It’s one thing to see all the nets up, but when you see people at every court,” Zelhofer said. “The ball, it looks like popcorn. The balls are everywhere as far as you can see.”
That atmosphere has helped turn Boatride into a destination for volleyball players across the country.
Hall said she did not fully understand what Boatride represented when she first started playing in the tournament.
“I thought nothing of it,” Hall said. “My club teammate was like, ‘Hey, do you want to play in this tournament? It’s grass. Here are the rules.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it sounds fun. Let’s give it a try.’”
After playing overseas and getting more involved with grass volleyball, Hall said she quickly became drawn to the sport and the community around it.
“I just kind of fell in love with it and was like, I could do this every weekend if I wanted to,” Hall said. “Like why would I not?”
Over the years, Hall said Boatride has connected her with players from across the country.
She and her husband traveled to tournaments around the country, including events in South Carolina, Colorado and Pennsylvania, often encouraging other players to experience Boatride for themselves.
Hall said some of those friendships have continued to grow, with players she met at other tournaments eventually traveling to Wisconsin for Boatride.
“It’s almost like every year we get our regular friends and then they bring different friends and that circle of friends just kind of expands,” Hall said.
A Championship Court filled with memories
For Hall, Boatride has become more than just a tournament.
She met her husband, Bob, through volleyball, and the two were married on Boatride’s Championship Court.
Hall said the location made sense because of the relationships they built through the sport.
“We have so many friends that we’ve made from playing volleyball, playing Boatride, that it just, it felt like it kind of made sense,” Hall said. “Boatride just holds a really special place in our heart.”
The wedding was another example of the connections that have formed through the tournament, Zelhofer said.
He said he has heard more stories like Hall’s as Boatride continues to grow.
“I can’t get enough of them, to be honest,” Zelhofer said. “There’s a lot of stories like that. We’re hearing more and more every year.”
Zelhofer shared another story about two players who met at Boatride, got engaged the following year and later started a family. Their daughter was named Brighton, after the tournament’s home at Brighton Acres.
“It makes you feel good knowing that you put this together and you know people are enjoying it that much,” Zelhofer said. “It’s very rewarding.”
Growth on and off the court
The tournament continues to break its own records.
“We jumped 650 teams over a year ago, and a year ago was already a world record,” Zelhofer said. “It’s starting to get noticed a lot more from people outside of the volleyball community.”
The tournament has also continued to evolve behind the scenes.
“We started using a new software program, and it really helped us grow because we could handle more teams,” Zelhofer said.
He said organizers are already looking ahead to ways they can continue improving the experience.
“I would love to figure out personally our main court complex, the seating arrangements,” Zelhofer said. “And we probably are going to dive pretty hard into more professional videography around that complex just so the people that can’t get in there have the ability to bring it up on their phones or maybe we have it on projectors.”
For Hall, the excitement for next year has already begun.
“We’re definitely, we have a countdown for next year,” Hall said.
Forty years after it began as a small tournament in Waupaca, Boatride has become something much bigger — a championship event, a summer tradition and a place where volleyball continues to bring people together.
