By Kaitlyn Johnson / Special to The Herald
MUKILTEO — A local volleyball club recently organized a cleanup effort at the sand volleyball courts at Lighthouse Park.
Dmitriy Tukan, the founder and director of the Blue Royals Volleyball Academy, started noticing problems with the courts last year.
The nonprofit club was holding its Saturday drop-in, where members and the public can get extra practice, when several players began complaining about sharp pieces of debris in the sand.
Tukan also saw an issue with the court’s net. It was set permanently at the height used for men’s beach volleyball and could not be adjusted for women and younger athletes.
He conferred with his wife, Lisa Tukan, who is also the secretary at Blue Royals.
“Dmitriy told me, ‘I really think we should get a better net and clean up the sand,’ so we put it on the schedule for next year,” she said. “We have girls who love volleyball and the club, so why not put them to work?”
The planned date arrived on an overcast day in early May. About 40 Blue Royals athletes came out to help — in place of a regularly scheduled practice.
Parents set up a potluck barbecue, and the volunteers worked off and on for about an hour. They sifted the sand with mesh screen sifters built by Dmitriy Tukan, installing outlines on the court, and putting in hardware that allows the net height to be adjusted.
About 30 minutes in, however, “we had our worst-case scenario,” Lisa Tukan said. “It started to rain and there was a huge downpour … We thought about quitting, but we ended up staying at it and eventually the rain stopped.”
Though the rain made the sand much heavier and harder to shovel, the athletes finished the job that night, and even had time to get in a few games on the new courts.
“It was a really good example for all to not give up, and to finish what we started, and made it all even more satisfying when it was finally all cleaned up,” the Tukans wrote afterward on the club’s website.
Mukilteo’s mayor, Jennifer Gregerson, took notice.
“We were grateful and impressed,” she said. “They did wonderful work to make our volleyball court a better facility for everyone to enjoy.”
In the weeks since the cleanup, the Tukans say they’ve seen an increase in public use of the courts. Lisa Tukan credits her husband for creating a positive space for girls to play volleyball, learn important life skills, and inspire them to help their community.
He hopes to make a service project a seasonal tradition at Blue Royals.
Kaitlyn Johnson is an incoming ninth-grader at Cavelero Mid High School in Lake Stevens.
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