The inaugural season for the UNCW beach volleyball program is proving to be a challenge. The team has had trouble early and gotten off to a 3 – 7 start. With this being the first year, some growing pains are expected. The schedule has not made things any easier with UNCW having faced three top ten teams already. Despite a disappointing start to this season, the future looks bright for the program.
Head coach Amy Bambenek has done an excellent job with the indoor program and looks to have the same success with beach volleyball. Upon coming to UNCW she did not have any experience with the sand game so she wisely brought in David Fischer to help.
Coach Fischer brings over twenty years of experience in beach volleyball to UNCW. He is a graduate of Stanford University where as a player he led his team to the NCAA finals. After graduation Fischer played professional beach volleyball on the AVP tour. His professional career lasted for fifteen years where he played in tournaments worldwide. Fischer comes to UNCW from The University of Louisiana at Monroe where he led them to a trip to the NCAA tournament in his first year. He also coached several players to All-American seasons.
The sand game is very different from the indoor game. On the sand, skill and finesse are more important than physical characteristics. This gives players who don’t have that prototype volleyball body a chance to be a division one athlete and earn a scholarship. The team has signed six full time beach players and filled out the rest of the roster with indoor players. In future years the program should be able to recruit more players specifically for the beach game. The location of the UNCW campus near the beach should help attract some top level recruits.
Both the sand and indoor programs should be mutually beneficial. With each coach bringing a different perspective to the game, the teams should both gain valuable insights. The indoor players that also play sand should also benefit. The games a very different and could help attract indoor players to UNCW because they can play sand volleyball in the off-season. Besides keeping in shape, playing both sports could help them develop skills and gain perspective that could help them with their indoor game.
The first season for any program will be tough as this year is proving to be for UNCW. Coach Bambenek and coach Fischer have been successful everywhere they have been. There is no reason to think that they won’t with the UNCW beach volleyball program. The future looks bright and with a few years of recruiting and coaching, the program should be very competitive.