It's the all the rage at the Summer Olympics, a viewer-friendly mix of skill, sand and, yes, skin. Now, beach volleyball will take the college stage.
Division I schools gave a final green light Friday, turning back an attempt to remove sand volleyball — as the NCAA officially calls it — from the association's menu of emerging sports. In the next three months, the NCAA will weigh such particulars as how many scholarships should be offered, how many coaches are needed and how long the season should go.
Forty schools must play the sport before the association sets up a championship. It also has a go-ahead from Division II.
"This is an amazing day for volleyball and all of women's athletics," said volleyball star Kerri Walsh, who won two NCAA championships playing indoors at Stanford and won two Olympic gold medals on the beach. "NCAA sand volleyball will grow the game and give wonderful opportunities to young women. ... I'm thrilled to know the next generation of volleyball stars will have collegiate sand volleyball."
How many will take it up in the short term is uncertain. The troubled economy has put a chill on sports start-ups. But Kathy DeBoer, executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, said sand volleyball has chance to grow into one of colleges' marquee sports.
"We've never had an emerging sport that is played by a lot of people that play our current sport. ... and may be as popular or more popular than the current sport," she said, alluding to traditional indoor volleyball.
Some Division I schools are less enamored, citing concern about costs and a potential competitive advantage for bigger-budget and warmer-weather institutions. After the NCAA added sand volleyball to its list of emerging sports in Division I last April — applying a timetable for setting up playing and practice seasons and other parameters — the Big Ten Conference led a successful effort by more than 30 schools to seek an override.
Friday, when it went to a vote of all Division I schools, the move to keep the sport off the emerging-sports list fell 12 votes short of a needed 62.5% majority. It got 178 of the 284 votes cast, or 58.5%.
"This is about access and fairness," Georgia State athletics director Cheryl Levick said, "... and an opportunity to add a sport that women want to play."
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/volleyball/2010-01-15-ncaa-beach-volleyball_N.htm
Division I schools gave a final green light Friday, turning back an attempt to remove sand volleyball — as the NCAA officially calls it — from the association's menu of emerging sports. In the next three months, the NCAA will weigh such particulars as how many scholarships should be offered, how many coaches are needed and how long the season should go.
Forty schools must play the sport before the association sets up a championship. It also has a go-ahead from Division II.
"This is an amazing day for volleyball and all of women's athletics," said volleyball star Kerri Walsh, who won two NCAA championships playing indoors at Stanford and won two Olympic gold medals on the beach. "NCAA sand volleyball will grow the game and give wonderful opportunities to young women. ... I'm thrilled to know the next generation of volleyball stars will have collegiate sand volleyball."
How many will take it up in the short term is uncertain. The troubled economy has put a chill on sports start-ups. But Kathy DeBoer, executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, said sand volleyball has chance to grow into one of colleges' marquee sports.
"We've never had an emerging sport that is played by a lot of people that play our current sport. ... and may be as popular or more popular than the current sport," she said, alluding to traditional indoor volleyball.
Some Division I schools are less enamored, citing concern about costs and a potential competitive advantage for bigger-budget and warmer-weather institutions. After the NCAA added sand volleyball to its list of emerging sports in Division I last April — applying a timetable for setting up playing and practice seasons and other parameters — the Big Ten Conference led a successful effort by more than 30 schools to seek an override.
Friday, when it went to a vote of all Division I schools, the move to keep the sport off the emerging-sports list fell 12 votes short of a needed 62.5% majority. It got 178 of the 284 votes cast, or 58.5%.
"This is about access and fairness," Georgia State athletics director Cheryl Levick said, "... and an opportunity to add a sport that women want to play."
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/volleyball/2010-01-15-ncaa-beach-volleyball_N.htm
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