Making a Big Impact: The Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls

The Sanford Pentagon is host to the Pentagon Volleyball Club. With 14 teams in its first year, the club is off to a great start. Pentagon Volleyball Club is a proud member of the JVA and have organized the Northern Plains Power League with JVA host clubs Omaha River City Juniors and Nebraska Juniors. The NPPL is part of the Mizuno JVA Power League Alliance, which includes the Great Lakes Power League, The Southern Alliance Volleyball League and the Southern Power League. 

The Sanford Pentagon is a 160,000 square foot, multi-purpose facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The facility was built by Sanford Health and opened in September of 2013. In the planning stages of the facility, Sanford Health knew they wanted a volleyball academy in the building, similar to what they already had established with basketball, baseball and football. They hired Mark McCloskey, former club director at TEVA in Kentucky, and high school coach at Lexington Catholic High School.

Mark started the club program at a local church with 2 courts while the facility was under construction. He ran camps and lessons in the summer and continued that when the building was done in the fall of 2013. The club started in November with tryouts and has taken off since.  The main challenge for Mark, along with many clubs utilizing a large multi-purpose facility like this, is competing with basketball for court space.  Although there are 11 courts, Mark think a few more would help as he hopes to add boys volleyball and sand volleyball, as well as expand on the number of girls teams.   

The Pentagon is capable of hosting 11 volleyball courts in a tournament setting, or 14 courts in a   The building is in the shape of a pentagon, with courts along the outside walls of the building. In the center of the building is a 3200 state of the art arena, which creates a great atmosphere for any volleyball match. The Sanford Pentagon has been chosen to host the 2016 NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball Championship, as well as the 2015, 2016 and 2018 Division II Women’s Basketball Championship and the 2017and 2018 Division II Men’s Basketball Championships.     9 full time staff, Army of part time staff who work events, etc. NBA D-League teams plays its home games here. Affiliate of the Heat.

camp/clinic setting. All courts are suspended wood floors, similar to those found in NBA arenas and practice facilities around the country.

The Sanford Pentagon is a part of the Sanford Sports Complex. This includes the Sanford Fieldhouse which houses the Sanford POWER Sports Performance Program. The fieldhouse has 62,000 square feet of field turf, a state of the art weight room and a state of the art sports medicine facility. The club teams train 1-2 times a week with a coach at the fieldhouse. There is a full time athletic trainer who covers the club during practice.

This is a community facility with tremendous resources that has made volleyball one of its priorities. Mark is looking forward to helping grow the game in South Dakota and the region.  

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