The Host with the Most

By Ivan Dashkov

As MGA was starting to become a reality, the owner, Fabian, reached out to the local volleyball community to start the process of securing rentals for the facility. One of the goals of MGA is to grow volleyball among all ages and skill levels. MGA is in a unique position with 12 courts because it has the ability to host several different volleyball activities among many age groups at the same time.  Now it was time to set up partnerships for rentals and events and secure other ways to generate revenue within the facility.

MGA set up a court rental rate, and for rental groups there is room for negotiation before signing a contract for an extended amount of time.  If you walk off the street and want to rent a court for one hour it is 75 dollars. However, with organizations that will be renting a lot of space and/or reserving court time for the long term, the will go down to 55-65 dollars per hour.

The first key partnership was with SMASH Volleyball. SMASH is the premier juniors’ volleyball club in New England and next season SMASH will base all of its teams out of MGA.  The club will be able to add more teams per age group as well as a boys program.  SMASH signed a contract to rent the facility for at least three years. Practices in the past for SMASH have been held in small gyms and MGA gives them a large place to practice as well as the ability to have multiple teams practice by themselves and then scrimmage each other on the same night..

MGA opened its doors by hosting the final two NERVA tournaments of the season. NERVA has done a wonderful job running juniors in New England and the facility will continue to host many NERVA tournaments. The first two tournaments each had over 500 people in attendance and that was with the use of only the first four courts. A gate fee was not applied at any of the tournament, however, in the future the facility plans to charge 5 dollars at the door. MGA does not plan on splitting the gate fee with the host club or organization unless an outside party rents MGA to have a gate fee event, and then a split would be negotiated.

MGA’s capacity to host large tournaments and its central location in New England makes it a prime place to host NERVA (New England Region Volleyball) events. Along with SMASH and NERVA, the Canton Cobras Volleyball Club will be based out of MGA and we are working with other juniors programs to have their programs in MGA.  MGA will also host several camps and clinics too.

Boston has a large population of adult volleyball players, so the next step was tapping into that demographic and potential client base. There are two organizations, Boston Ski and Sports Club and Social Boston Sports that provide high level social volleyball leagues in the area. MGA has partnered up with both of them to host leagues in the fall. The leagues will serve as trial runs for the future, and the hope is that these leagues will grow into partnerships that will last many years and be beneficial to both groups. MGA is also in talks with Yankee Volleyball. Yankee is the USAV sanctioned adult program in New England. It is our hope to bring Yankee into MGA and host large adult tournaments that New England rarely has.

Another successful idea was having open gyms. Every Monday night MGA has high school teams come in for captains’ practices and for the ability to scrimmage other high school teams in the offseason. Every Wednesday night is college night at MGA, where the local college kids and young adults come to play. Friday is family night and MGA has high school players as well as college kids playing on the court.

Another revenue source for MGA  is food and concessions.  There are two vending machines, and a concession stand that is used for larger events.  MGA is also working with local restaurants and eateries to help supply food for camps and tournaments.

There are plans for an apparel and equipment store, but for now the facility is using a room that is dedicated to selling merchandise.  MGA will wait until late summer/early fall to complete the store, just in time for larger events to begin.  It has been an exciting journey to piece together the various revenue sources for MGA Sports. The demand and anticipation for this facility in Boston has been long overdue, so many parties are anxious to get events on the calendar.  MGA has high hopes for the future of this facility and the impact it will have on the local volleyball community, and slowly but surely the pieces were falling into place.

The Renovation

By Ivan Dashkov

After Fabian (MGA Sports Owner) and his investors picked the perfect location to house the 12 court facility, the process of alternating the former warehouse into a volleyball gym began. Before any new lights were hung or any sport court laid down, walls had to be torn down. The warehouse was originally used to ship beverages and other products. The space that is now home to our lime green, purple, and future sand court used to have a walk in freezer. Initially there was an idea to keep the walk in freezer and turn it into a sand volleyball area. It quickly became apparent that the freezer had to go. Another major change that was made was tearing down a wall that split up the main four courts from the back eight. This wall was supposed to stay up and until very late into the process. However, the building manager offered to take it down and Fabian jumped on the opportunity that created a more open feel to the complex.

Besides those two major changes, a lot of smaller construction had to be done as well. One of the most time consuming was the remodeling of the front office area as well as the far bathrooms. The front office was expanded to include not only a business office but also a room for referees, a pro shop, a large education room, and locker rooms. The education room will be primarily used to review tape and for coaches’ education. It was also positively received by the SMASH community as an area where parents and siblings can do work while their daughter or sister is playing. The new bathrooms in the locker room and the construction of the far bathrooms took a long time because they required the installation of new plumbing as well as fixtures. Fabian planned ahead by having the ceilings of both the office area and the far bathrooms reinforced. While there is nothing on top of them yet, it will allow them in the future to have a second floor that can be used for spectator seating, storage, more offices, etc.

Fabian spared no expense when he picked the materials that were used for the courts. He purchased top of the line sport court that features Shocktower technology from Snap Sports. This is the most advanced sport court available on the market. By using this as the flooring he did not only insure the safety of everyone who will play at MGA, he also made a smart business decision. If he purchased an older version of sport court it would have become outdated quickly and would have needed to be replaced quickly. Fabian also purchased lights that would be non-intrusive during play. It is important to have lights picked out early in the construction process. The flooring had to wait until the lighting was installed.

Another addition that was installed is an advanced sound system. The sound system has been a welcomed addition as it makes the facility more fun to practice in and allows for an intercom system that Fabian can broadcast through. The net systems used in the facility are from Gared Sports. Fabian traveled to their offices and looked through various models before deciding on one. He developed a strong relationship with Gared Sports. Fabian had a few alterations he wanted to be done to the net systems he picked and Gared was very accommodating.

By creating such a large and high quality facility, MGA has created a place where Massachusetts and New England volleyball can grow. The added space will allow for NERVA Juniors to grow as it will offer a great location for tournaments and for practices for teams in the region. SMASH Volleyball is already committed to expanding its offerings by offering more teams for girls juniors and adding boys juniors as well. MGA wants to foster this kind of growth throughout New England volleyball because it has the court space and quality to allow for the expansion of offerings at any level. 

It Begins!

By Ivan Dashkov

Fabian Ardila is the man behind MGA Sports. Opening MGA Sports is a dream come true for the facility’s owner and coach for SMASH Volleyball.  His unending passion for volleyball, and his professional drive and vision have helped him navigate through the obstacles and setbacks of creating a volleyball facility. The original idea was to create a sports center composed of several sports for juniors. In addition to volleyball, it included soccer and basketball as the three main pillars of the complex.

After doing extensive research it became apparent to Fabian that the need for a volleyball specific facility was more of a necessity for the region.  He wanted to start MGA with one goal: to grow the sport of volleyball in New England.  Currently, when compared to the rest of the country, the level of volleyball in New England is considered weak. The goal of MGA Sports and SMASH Volleyball is to create an environment in New England that can foster development of juniors. His vision is to reach and teach young athletes about the dynamic, competitive, robust sport of volleyball in a fun, safe and nurturing environment.

After forming the idea to create a complex focused on volleyball, the next task was to find a location. After researching the success of similar facilities, MGA Sports found that the most successful facilities were the most accessible ones. The goal was to find a facility that was easily accessible to everyone in the greater Boston area in addition to New England. Originally, the idea was to build a new complex from the ground up. However, there wasn't any land available that was suitable for the facility and easily accessible. Fabian then decided to find a warehouse that he could renovate. After a long search lasting several months, he finally found a perfect location in Norwood, MA easily accessible from Route 128 and Interstate 95. See Map.

Another huge hurdle was finding investors for a long-term lease. In this economy, a lot of investors were not interested in the long term. After a few angel investors fell through, Fabian turned to his friends and family, who believed in him and the project. Fabian put his life savings into his dream in addition to the money invested by other family members and friends. Once the bank saw the level of investment from Fabian, they felt confident in loaning the rest of the money for the project. A 20-year lease was signed, with the bank paying for 80% of all the equipment, leaving the remaining 20% on Fabian and MGA Sports. 

Fabian offers advice to anyone interested in building a similar facility saying, “Make sure you have a patient and persevering personality first, then make a sensible budget. Finally, triple your budget and you should be OK.”  After 3 months, the paperwork was complete and the facility was in the hands of Fabian and MGA Sports.  Now the excitement of renovating the facility was about to begin.

Fabian wanted to be able to grow volleyball by offering high level camps, clinics, and other opportunities for juniors and adults.  The plan was to have a 12 court facility in order to be able to offer a variety of programs.  Also, by having a 12-court facility, SMASH Volleyball could become a bigger club offering more opportunities for junior girls and begin to offer boys volleyball as well. 


Learn how the renovation process began and continued during the past few months in the next post.  


Do you have questions for Fabian or Ivan?  Make sure to post them on the blog!


About the Author: Ivan Dashkov is the Director of Marketing and Digital Media at MGA Sports. He has been involved in volleyball for the past decade. He is currently a coach at SMASH volleyball. He graduated from Ithaca College in May of 2011 and was awarded the Ithaca College Professional Excellence Award in Sport Management and Media. At Ithaca, He served as an assistant coach to the Division III volleyball team. He played college club volleyball and received All-Conference honors his junior year. Ivan grew up in Massachusetts and was originally born in Kazakhstan.