SERVE & PASS: Skyler McCoy (Lake- wood, Calif.) hits a float serve. Below, Tori Penrod (Jupiter, Fla.) works on her platform.
REACHING OUT: Brittany Curran (Morris Plains, N.J.) dives for the ball as partner Alexa Richardson (Austin, Texas) moves in to set.
M
ore than 100 players from across the nation attended USA Volley- ball’s Beach High Performance
Championships in Hermosa Beach, Calif., on July 14-17.
The invitational event culiminated USA
Volleyball’s Beach HPC camps designed to strengthen the development of the next wave of international stars. Ali Lamberson, USA Volleyball’s Direc- tor of International Beach Programs, liked what she saw in the event and thinks she was observing future beach Olympians. “One of the main goals of the Beach High Performance Programs is to prepare athletes for elite level competition, whether it is at the FIVB, domestic professional, or NCAA level,” Lamberson said. “There are a lot of really great opportunities for kids to participate in recreational beach events across the country with the USA Junior Beach Tour, AAU and regional tours like Dig the Beach in Florida and CBVA in California. But we’ve discovered that we need programs that bridge the gap between these events and the FIVB tour.”
Lamberson, a former professional beach
player, said part of the program is designed to train kids to play with officials, in multi- day events, playing full match play, etc. “We have been training and tracking some of these athletes for five years now, and the results are starting to show with success at FIVB Challengers, FIVB Youth and Junior World Championships and on the World Tour,” she said. “By the 2016 Olympic Games you will see athletes who have come through this program.” USA Volleyball has made a concerted
effort to focus on the younger levels of beach volleyball. The commitment has paid off in increased participation, but challenges remain.
“Most kids who play beach also play
indoor, so a typical athlete’s schedule is 10 months of indoor and two months of beach,” Lamberson said. “This is not enough beach training to reach a consistent and elite level. “While we are far from the point where a majority of kids are opting to focus on one discipline early in their careers, it would help beach players if they had more opportunities to overlap their
seasons.That would allow athletes to reach an elite level much earlier.
USAVOLLEYBALL.ORG | 47
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