LIHU‘E — Event organizers were at Kalapaki Beach on Wednesday morning, April 12, 2023, where they were gearing up for the 29th annual Hawai‘i Dinosaur Volleyball Tournament.
David Chaikin, the tournament’s director, spoke to The Garden Island in anticipation of the event’s start.
“I’m anxious to get it going,” he said. “You never know what’s gonna happen.”
The Dinosaur is famed for its unique entry requirements, where partners need a combined age of at least 80 for men and 75 for women — although Chaikin allows mother/daughter and father/son teams to play a couple of years before they’re technically eligible. There’s also a men’s 100 division, where both partners’ ages need to add up to 100.
Chaikin founded the tournament with a friend back in 1995, and it has since become the biggest beach volleyball tournament in Hawai‘i.
The event has grown from 16 teams in its first year to more than 120 registered teams this year.
“It’s a bucket list item for a lot of people coming here,” said Chaikin, adding that the event attracts many current and former pros.
There are also several teams traveling from California for the tournament, as well as a couple teams coming from New York, Seattle, Florida, Texas and even Brazil.
“They really come from all over,” Chaikin said.
Names to look out for this year include Olympic beach volleyball player Jake Gibb, who announced his retirement from the professional tour in 2021.
“People are gonna be very excited. They’re really gonna want to play against him,” Chaikin said.
There’s also the men’s defending champions, Michael Bruning and Tal Shavit. Kimberly Dicello, the women’s defending champion, is also returning this year.
“Everyone here wants to play the big names,” Chaikin said. “It might be somebody who was really good and you had no chance of beating them. Now they’re old and you do have a chance of beating them.”
But Chaikin noted that the tournament is not really about winning.
“This is more of a gathering of friends and seeing people you haven’t seen in 10 years. It’s more of a party atmosphere and less competitive volleyball.”
There’s also no big prizes for the winners.
“A long time ago, we decided that we would never put money up,” Chaikin said.
The prizes include T-shirts and a dinner at Duke’s restaurant. Even though the awards are fairly low stakes, that doesn’t seem to have affected the event’s turnout.
“Every year, there’s more people that want to come than can come,” Chaikin said.
The event also attracts spectators, with “a lot of people coming from the mainland just to watch,” Chaikin said.
He added that some people with timeshares book their dates around the tournament so that they’ll be able to attend.
“There’s a lot of people. People go like, ‘I’ve never seen old people move like that. It’s crazy,’” said Chaikin.
Chaikin noted that there are 12 father/son teams participating this year, as well as one team with a combined age of 142 years.
Fonz Nartatez, who helped organize the event, was also at Kalapaki Beach on Wednesday, setting up. Nartatez has been playing in the tournament for several years, and is registered for both the 80s and 100s divisions.
“It’s just good to have the higher level ball ‘cause we play with the same people all the time here,” said Nartatez, who lives on Kaua‘i. “It’s a change of pace for us,” he said.
The tournament has previously been held on Hawai‘i Island, Maui and O‘ahu, but this is the 11th year in a row that it will be held on Kaua‘i.
The event is scheduled to start Thursday morning and run through Saturday.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-245-0441 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
