Sand volleyball nets hang over a court on ASU’s Polytechnic campus in Mesa. According to ASU, a new sand volleyball program will begin in 2014, where payers from the court volleyball team are expected to try out for. (Photo by Dominic Valente.)The beach at Tempe Town Lake, ASU's closest "beach," may not actually have sand, but that hasn't stopped the ASU Athletic Department from announcing last week that women's sand volleyball will be added as a new NCAA division I sport in 2014.
Athletic Director Dawn Rogers said sand volleyball has quickly emerged as a sport that will probably go to NCAA Division I championship status one year from now and that the addition enhances the status of the University's indoor team.
"It allows us to develop players with broader skill sets as well as recruit more players who are interested in playing both sand and court," she said. "We already have the foundation in place to add sand, so it made it a natural fit for us as an institution."
Rogers said the Pac-12 will have six or seven schools competing in sand volleyball, including UCLA, USC and UA.
The Athletic Department is not planning on adding any practice courts on campus and is in the process of formalizing agreements with several venues close to campus, Rogers said. The University also does not have to spend extra money on a coaching staff or on adding scholarships, she said.
"The beauty about adding sand for us is that it is a very fiscally-responsible way to provide further opportunities for women to compete," Rogers said. "With sand, you don't have to spend all of your time practicing outdoors, you can practice indoors as well."
Court Coach Jason Watson, who has gotten the nod for the sand head coaching position, said sand volleyball is experiencing a "groundswell" nationally and that it only makes sense for the University to add it to its arsenal of women's Division I athletic teams.
"There is a significant amount of interest in our recruiting base with sand volleyball," he said. "So it compliments what we are trying to do here really well and further enhances our ability to attract great recruits."
Watson said sand volleyball has growing support at the junior level and that Arizona is a very "pro-sand volleyball state," because many of the local high schools have also added it to their list of competitive sports.
The 2014 team will consist of five two-player teams, which will be chosen based on which court players show the most potential at playing on sand, he said.
"There are some athletes on our team whose game lends itself very well to sand and some athletes whose game doesn't," he said. "So, moving forward, we will form the nucleus of our team based on those who seem more fitted for the style played on sand."
Watson, who has not coached sand volleyball in the past, said there are several nuances to the sand court that make it a different game. One being that the court is smaller, another that the ball handling rules are a lot tighter, he said.
"We're all going to go through the learning curve of how to practice it and how to get better at it," he said. "There are similarities, but there are also differences that are going to take a while to get adjusted to. But in the spring semester we will have some time to make the transition, and I think it will go well."
The sun shines through a group of sand volleyball nets on ASU's Polytechnic campus. The newest addition to ASU's athletics is set to start sometime in 2014. (Photo by Dominic Valente.)Allison Palmer, an accounting sophomore on the court team, said she is excited about competing for a spot on the sand volleyball team.
Palmer, who grew up in Laguna Beach and played sand volleyball often when she was younger, said her decision to attend ASU was partially based on the prospect of the University adding the team.
"I love to play sand volleyball, and I think it will really help us in our indoor season as well," she said. "Sand is so diverse with foot speed and jumping, it will definitely help our overall game."
Palmer said moving in sand is difficult and the game presents a group of different challenges, such as only having one teammate.
"You have to be able to play every position in sand," she said. "Even though I am a setter, I also have to be able to hit and dig and do all of that if I am going to play partners in sand."
Reach the reporter at npmendo@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @NPMendoza
