NOTEBOOK
NCAA sand volleyball season set to debut in the spring
NCAA approved its emerging status in 2010 for both Division I and II women’s programs.
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Collegiate sand volleyball has continued to evolve over the last half decade or so, moving from indoor volleyball players competing on the sand during their non-traditional season to a varsity-level sand team as part of the NCAA’s emerging sport structure. USA Volleyball has played a key role behind the collegiate sports development through annual tournaments featuring college players and the build-up of its Beach High Performance program. USA Volleyball will host its 4th Annual USA Volleyball Collegiate
Challenge April 14-15 at Hermosa Beach, Calif. On the fi rst day of competition, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Pepperdine and Southern Cali- fornia will compete in a round-robin team competition. The second day will feature an open competition to include non-varsity schools and colleges of all levels.
The USAV Collegiate Challenge will run concurrently with the Fiesta on Siesta event held at Siesta Key, Fla., involving 11 college programs from the East Coast.
Probable sand volleyball programs for 2011-12*
The initial sand volleyball season under the NCAA emerging sport status will conclude with the inaugural AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championships to be held April 27-29 in Gulf Shores, Ala. The event will serve as the national championship. In addition, USA Volleyball will run a Beach Coaching Accreditation Program (BCAP) seminar and Beach High Performance Tryout in Gulf Shores on April 26 and April 29, respectively. “We are extremely excited to have the Gulf Coast Region of USA
• Long Beach State • Pepperdine • Southern California • Hawaii • Florida State • College of Charleston • Stetson • Jacksonville University • North Florida • Alabama/Birmingham • Tulane • Mercer • Florida Atlantic • Florida International • Webber International (NAIA) • Florida Gulf Coast University
he sand in the hour glass has fi nally signaled the start of a new collegiate sport as sand volleyball begins this spring after the
Volleyball host our fi rst varsity championships,” said AVCA sand com- mittee chair and Pepperdine University coach Nina Matthies. The 2012 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championship will consist of both a team championship (which will include the top four NCAA women’s sand teams) and a pairs championship (which will consist of the top 16 collegiate doubles teams). Invitations to partici- pate will be based on 2012 season results and tournament selections will be made by a committee. The USAV Collegiate Challenge will serve as the last qualifying event into the national championship. In addition to the Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championship, Gulf Shores will play host to both an adult and a junior’s sand tournament during the weekend. In 2010, the NCAA Division I and Division II membership added sand volleyball to its list of emerging sports for women, effective for the 2010-11 school year in NCAA Division II and for the 2011-12 school year for NCAA Division I. As an emerging sport, the NCAA allows 10 years for sports sponsorship to grow to a minimum of 40 varsity teams. If the minimum sponsorship target is met, the member- ship can consider the implementation of an NCAA Championship for sand volleyball.
For more information on the collegiate sand volleyball season, see 14 | VOLLEYBALLUSA
www.avca.org/sand. * Chart: AVCA Sand Volleyball Coaches Committee.
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