Early morning beach volleyball sessions face city tickets in South Mission Beach

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — For more than six decades now, South Mission Beach in San Diego has been the epicenter for Southern California Beach Volleyball.

Starting in 1965, when the nets first went up, pros and amateurs alike have been fine-tuning their skills from sunrise to sunset.

“This is the only time of day we can practice and play. Most of us work and have busy lives, so the mornings are the only time we can play, and have been for decades”, says Nathaniel Hentchel.

But as it turns out, the sunset sessions at South Mission Beach Volleyball Courts are not allowed, and never have been. Officially, the city courts do not open until 8:00 a.m. But after decades of zero enforcement, the city is suddenly threatening to issue tickets to anyone playing before that time.

“You know these courts have been used every morning for decades. A lot of people out here are shaking their heads, wondering why now. We don’t make noise; we clean up after ourselves. We understand the 8:00 a.m. start time. But it’s never been enforced until now,” says Richard Bailey.

According to the city, the sudden crackdown is the result of noise complaints from nearby homeowners and vacation renters. Many of the homes around here are short-term rentals. They also say it’s never been allowed, even though it happens every morning of every week and has for decades.

“To suddenly enforce it now, why? This is a cultural tradition here in San Diego. Believe me, there’s a lot more noise out here every morning than volleyball players,” says Anne Luempert.

“That’s louder than anything we do out here. Those airplanes are so loud, we have to pause our games just to hear the score called out,” says Barbara Birnbaum.

As a tight-knit culture, there is a certain amount of self policing out here. Including posted signs stating no music until 9:00 a.m., enforced by the players themselves.

So with the threat of losing a lifelong cultural tradition, a movement has begun within the community to change the rules and protect the precious morning tradition.

“So I started a petition on Change.Org to change the rules. We put it up two days ago and got 1,400 signatures in the first day. We now have almost 2,000. We want to have the city change the rules to reflect our community. Part of those rules will be no music until after 9:00 a.m.”

The volleyball groups have also reached out to city council members, hoping they will officially change the hours to reflect reality.

But ironically, these rules only apply to city-owned courts.

If you bring your own poles and a volleyball net, you can play from sunset to sunrise on nearby courts, and no one will harass you.