Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Isabella Thayer-Persaud. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Isabella, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

Through SSOVA (Sunshine State Outdoor Volleyball Association) we want to leave the legacy of growing an inclusive beach volleyball community where there is a place for everyone, and help people live their best lives doing something they love. We feel Beach Volleyball is a unique sport. You can start at any age, the sand is more forgiving on the body than a gym floor. If you are lucky enough to be able to play on the beach, you get to ground yourself with nature, barefoot in the sand. Beach volleyball is great exercise for the mind and body, it also has a meditative quality because when you are deep in the game you are truly living in the present moment.

The beach volleyball community is blossoming into such a beautiful environment already. Not only is it a huge opportunity for juniors to attain college scholarships but it builds character, confidence, strength, and social skills.
As adults we make lasting friendships and even find our soul mates on the court.

We hope to be remembered for growing the sport and maintaining high quality consistent events that people can look forward to, and know when they step on the sand at an SSOVA event that they are apart of the family.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My (Isabella Thayer-Persaud) husband (Prem Persaud) and I run and own SSOVA inc. (The Sunshine State Outdoor Volleyball Association). The largest beach volleyball tournament series in the Southeast USA. We run all divisions from beginner adults & juniors to the pro level.

SSOVA has been around since 2004 but we took over the business in 2020. Prem fell in love with Beach volleyball at 30 years old after trying many other sports. He started playing in the Tampa Bay club sports league and the rest was history. He created another popular tournament right after that in Gulfport Florida that ran for years, but he eventually stepped away, and the owner of SSOVA picked him up for marketing and consulting. I have been playing volleyball since I was 8. It is always been a major part & joy of my life. Prem and I met in 2017 on the beach volleyball courts in Gulfport. He asked me to play in a doubles league with him every Monday right after we started dating. We played together for three years in that league and learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

In 2020 we followed our dreams and took on running SSOVA. We run 25 tournaments a year on Tampa Bay’s best beaches, plus this year we are expanding to the East Coast of Florida (Pompano Beach). We are also contacted out to run or setup for other events like AVP Junior Nationals.

We are proud of the high quality events that we run. We start on time, have great equipment & customer service. We have amazing, hard working & dedicated staff that makes everything run smooth. We work hard to attain and maintain the best locations for our players. We work together with the city & state officials to keep bringing high quality beach volleyball events to our beaches.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We have consistent hurdles we have to overcome in this business. We have learned we can overcome any challenge. Like taking over in 2020 before the pandemic. We weren’t able to run events on the beach until November 2020. We have overcome permitting challenges with the state. We are constantly overcoming challenges that eroding beaches and severe weather can bring.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think one of the most important aspects of running a business is taking great care of your staff. Everyone should be compensated & appreciated well for what they’re doing. We also lead by example and stay positive and show our team that we care about them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.ssova.com
• Instagram: @ssovabeachvolleyball
• Facebook: Ssova Beach Volleyball
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ssovabeachvolleyball6746