UNCW has just finished its inaugural season in beach volleyball. A 10-15 record may seem disappointing but considering the challenges a new program faces, this year was a success. The team saw great improvement as the season progressed and remained competitive throughout.
The addition of freshmen like Courtney Mullinax showcased the future of the program. Courtney is from the Wilmington area and is an example of the strong recruiting that UNCW is doing in the state. Coach Bambenek has recently announced the addition of seven new recruits for the beach program starting next year. A great example of UNCW’s growing recruiting strength is the addition of freshman Hayley Caputo. Hayley comes from one of the top high school beach programs in California.
These recruits prove UNCW is heading in the right direction and next year should see continued improvement.
Sarah Kelly, UNCW Sophomore, at the UNCW home tournament, April 2nd 2016.
UNCW added beach volleyball this year; its tenth women’s sport. This was the first season for the brand new program, and despite a record of 10-15, the Seahawks’ inaugural season was a great success. Any new NCAA athletic program is going to struggle at first and take time to develop.
“I knew the challenge we were going to face with so many of our girls learning beach volleyball, there was going to be a learning curve. The main challenge was converting indoor players, which were the bulk of our roster, into beach players,” commented new beach volleyball coach, David Fischer.
When asked about how he thought the season went overall Coach Fischer said, “I like the fact that we competed, I mean we didn’t always get the results we wanted, but we competed well against some established programs.”
UNCW faced a difficult schedule having to go against four top ten ranked teams, including a match against the number one ranked Pepperdine.
“All the people we played against said we didn’t look like a first year program,” says Freshman Courtney Mullinax.
Courtney grew up in Wilmington and was a fan of the indoor team. She was excited to be apart of something new and go to her favorite school in her hometown.
When asked about her favorite part of the first year, Courtney said,”The high point was definitely when we were in Siesta Key Florida and we play University of Louisiana Monroe which is where Coach David had coached for the past three years. We really wanted to get that win for David. It was great to take them, this would be their fourth year, and us in our first year to beat them was awesome.”
After cutting the women’s indoor and outdoor track teams due to budget concerns, UNCW officials looked to add another women’s sport to comply with Title IX requirements. Beach volleyball was an emerging NCAA women’s sport and seemed like a perfect fit for the coastal school.
Beach volleyball first appeared in the United States on the beaches of California in the 1920’s. Through the 50’s and 60’s, the sport spread across the beaches of the country. The game’s popularity was due to how easy it could be learned, combined with the challenge it provided.
Beach volleyball is one of the most popular women’s sports in the NCAA and the fastest growing NCAA sport ever. In 2012, the first year as a NCAA sport, there were just 16 programs. This year the season began with 41 programs and more on the way. Many schools find beach volleyball an attractive sport because it increases female participation and has very low costs associated with building a program. It is a great way to show the athletic prowess and skill of the women involved.
Any discussion of the rise of beach volleyball’s popularity would not be complete without mentioning the role of USA women’s beach volleyball in the Olympics. Beach volleyball has seen a recent rise in popularity. The sport really gained momentum in the United States after the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. That was the game’s first year as an Olympic sport and America’s first chance to see the sport on a large scale. This exposure every four years is a major reason for the sport’s growth. The USA women’s team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor have had three gold medal finishes in a row. The USA has dominated the women’s sand game and been an inspiration for a whole generation of young women to get involved with the sport.
Beach volleyball is very popular in the Wilmington coastal area and always seemed like a great fit for UNCW athletics. UNCW has joined the now nearly 50 schools that have a beach volleyball program. UNCW is the first NCAA Division 1 school in North Carolina to offer beach volleyball. The majority of beach programs reside in California and Florida.
*Infographic created by Jeffrey Boulden using Google Maps. All data retrieved from www.collegesand.org
The first ever NCAABeach Volleyball National Championship was held this year at Gulf Shores, Alabama, where USC defeated Florida State in three sets. The tournament consisted of the top eight teams in a double elimination format. The teams had five pairs of players with the win going to the best three out of five games. UNCW hopes to compete in the championship tournament in the years to come and has brought in two coaches that should help them get there.
Coaches Amy Bambenek, David Fischer, and assistant Brittany Fennell all bring a wealth of playing and coaching experience at all levels of play. Coach Bambenek also coaches the indoor team where she resurrected the team from one of the league’s worst to an NCAA tournament bid and a CAA championship. That same success should be in store for the beach program. Coach Bambenek began her playing career at Coastal Carolina where she was a four-year starter and help lead the team to a conference title. She also ranks in the top five in several all time stats for the team. She began her coaching career as an assistant for Florida State where they won an ACC conference title. Next, she took a job as Assistant at George Washington University, where she coached several players to all-conference level status.
Coach Fischer comes to UNCW after several successful seasons as the head coach of The University of Louisiana Monroe. While at ULM, Coach Fischer helped several players become All-Americans. He started his playing career at Stanford University where he led the team to the NCAA finals. After his collegiate career, Coach Fischer played professional beach volleyball on the AVP tour. He also finished fourth in the 2003 Pan Am games.
Assistant Brittany Fennell comes to UNCW after coaching the Village Christian Academy in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Her playing career began at Clemson University in 2008 where she won the team’s rookie of the year award. She helped lead Clemson to two NCAA Tournament appearances. She has also played for a USA Development Team in international competition.
The coaching staff agrees that having a successful indoor program will help to build the beach program. Some have questioned whether the top players will play beach volleyball.
“With indoor volleyball, you have more teammates for support, but you also have multiple players in each position that you have to compete with for playing time. I feel like when it comes down to it, the players are going to go where they will get the most playing time and where the scholarship money is,” says former UNCW volleyball player Kelli Clear.
Kelli played for UNCW from 2007 to 2010 as a defensive specialist. Indoor and sand volleyball are very different and require different sets of skills and different types of players.
Kelli compares the two this way; “The main difference is that indoor volleyball is played consisting of a team of six players and beach competes with two players. Also, the speed of indoor volleyball is much quicker than beach. Since you only have two players in beach volleyball, the court is smaller but the net is the same height. In beach volleyball, you have to change the way you play in order to be more efficient.”
Kristen Powell gets ready to serve at the UNCW home tournament, April 2nd, 2016.
Having a beach volleyball program gives some girls that don’t have the prototypical Division 1 Volleyball game a chance to play and earn a scholarship. UNCW suited up six full-time beach players for their first year and filled the rest of the roster with indoor players. In the future, the program should be able to recruit more players specifically for the beach game. The proximity of the UNCW campus to area beaches should help to attract top-level recruits. The sand program could help attract indoor players by giving them another way to play and compete in their off-season. The two programs should be mutually beneficial with each bringing a different perspective to the game.
“It was a really big factor for me because through the recruiting process I was mostly looking for schools that have both, just so I could have the opportunity to play both,” says Halle Hunt, a Freshman from Greensboro, North Carolina.
With the first season in the books, Coach Fischer now sets his sights on the recruiting trail to try to upgrade the talent. The first year was a great success with 10 wins. Coach Bambenek and coach Fischer have been successful everywhere they have been. The future looks bright and with a few years of recruiting and coaching, the program should be very competitive.
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.
UNCW beach volleyball coach David Fischer. Image retrieved from www.uncw.edu by Jeffrey Boulden
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.
UNCW has added beach volleyball; it’s tenth women’s sport. The schedule will be released soon and the season will start in the spring of 2016. Wilmington NC is a coastal area and as such, beach volleyball is very popular in the area. UNCW joins the nearly fifty schools that now have a beach volleyball program. The beach volleyball program should be very competitive, due to the fact that the indoor program is doing so well. Coach Amy Bambenek believes that having a beach program will help her recruit better players for the indoor team. Both programs will train together to improve.
The UNCW program is the first division one school in North Carolina to offer beach volleyball and one of the few in the southeast. The majority of the beach volleyball programs are in California and Florida.
*Infographic created by Jeffrey Boulden using GoogleMaps. Data retrieved from www.collegesand.org
The schedule may be difficult for the first few years of the program since there aren’t many schools close by to play. As the popularity of the sport grows with the upcoming summer Olympics in Rio, more teams should be added in the southeast. The northeast and the central parts of the country do not have any programs in place yet. Beach volleyball is ideally played outside in good weather, but indoor facilities could make it possible for the sport to be played all over the country.
The first championship tournament will consist of an eight-team bracket with double elimination format. Each team will have five pairs of players; the first team to win three out of five matches will be the winner. UNCW’s schedule will start with six tournaments in March and April. As more and more beach programs start the question arises, where will the best players go?
“With indoor volleyball, you have more teammates for support, but you also have multiple players in each position that you have to compete with for playing time. I feel like when it comes down to it, the players are going to go where they will get the most playing time and where the scholarship money is,” says former UNCW volleyball player Kelli Clear.
Kelli played for UNCW from 2007 to 2010 as a defensive specialist. Beach volleyball and indoor are two very different games. Each player’s skill set determines which style suites them best.
Kelli compares the two this way, “The main difference is that indoor volleyball is played consisting of a team of 6 players and beach competes with 2 players. Also, the speed of indoor volleyball is much quicker than beach. Since you only have 2 players in beach volleyball, the court is smaller but the net is the same height. In beach volleyball, you have to change the way you play in order to be more efficient.”
Everything is in place for UNCW’s beach volleyball program to be a huge success. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the first season this spring and interest is growing. UNCW should be one of the nation’s top teams in the years to come.
Kelli sums up UNCW’s chances this way, “I think that as long as UNCW volleyball gets enough funding to successfully recruit players, then I think they have the proper coaching and competition within the region to be competitive and successful.”
Beach volleyball’s popularity has been on the rise recently. It has seen worldwide growth ever since it’s Olympic debut in Atlanta 1996 (“Beach Volleyball Equipment,” 2015). Since it’s beginnings in California in the 1920’s, it has always been a fun and challenging game that is easy to learn (“Beach Volleyball Equipment,” 2015). The game spread quickly during the great depression because there was no expensive equipment needed. Through the 50’s and 60’s, the game continued to grow over the U.S. and quickly gained the image of the cool sport to play.
There are several reasons for why the sport has grown so quickly. This is a great game for men and women to play together and compete on somewhat equal grounds. Co-ed leagues around the country are very popular. Also, this game encourages teamwork. It is a great game to meet new friends. Beach volleyball is an excellent workout. Players burn off calories while having fun in the sun. Usually players do not have to worry about injuries as much as other sports because it is non-contact and played on sand. This sport is fast paced and keeps player’s attention. There are no long periods of inactivity like in other sports. All players will participate on nearly every play. And realistically a huge reason for the popularity is the attractiveness of the players and the uniforms they wear. The men wear swim trunks and no shirt while the women wear bikinis. This makes it a perfect product for television.
The growth of this sport is especially important for female athletes. Women have always had fewer opportunities to participate in sports but beach volleyball is giving women another avenue to show off their athleticism. Women’s beach volleyball is now the fastest growing NCAA sport ever (Sorenson, 2015). In the first season as a collegiate sport in 2012, there were 16 programs. Now in 2015, there are 41 schools with women’s beach volleyball and more are on the way (Sorenson, 2015). Many schools like the idea of a women’s beach volleyball program because it increases female sport participation and has a very low costs associated with building the program (Sorenson, 2015). Some of the sports top indoor players are already starting to switch over to the sand game. This growth has been seen in the amateur ranks as well. “According to the AVCA nearly 500,000 13-25 year old females have taken up the sport since 2007” (Sorenson, 2015).
The exposure that the sport gets every four years in the summer Olympics is invaluable for it’s growth. The USA women’s team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor have captured the hearts of the country with three gold medal finishes in a row. The USA has dominated Olympic play so far with the most gold’s while Brazil has won the most medals overall (“teamusa.org,” 2015).
*Created in 2015 by Jeffrey M. Boulden using Microsoft Numbers. All data retrieved from www.teamusa.org.
Clearly, the USA and Brazil are the top two countries capturing just fewer than 70% of all the medals (“teamusa.org,” 2015). The argument could be made that Brazil is the best with the most overall medals but most experts agree that having the most gold is more important (“teamusa.org,” 2015). This graphic shows a few surprising countries that have won medals. Canada, Latvia, and Switzerland have all won a medal despite being very cold countries with small populations. Another odd fact from the graph is Australia only having two medals. Australia is a highly developed country with an abundance of beaches and great weather. One would expect them to compete with the USA and Brazil. As more and more colleges begin their beach volleyball programs, the USA seems poised to continue their domination of the Olympic sport for years to come.
All of this growth has seen the emergence of beach volleyball facilities opening all around the country. They offer a fun way to get exercise, compete, and meet new friends. With the professional leagues starting to pay more prize money and gain television exposure, this sport has a bright future. Its also one of the few sports where the women’s game may be more popular than the men’s. The growth of this up and coming sport sees no end in sight.
The Dig & Dive fall tournament series continues this Saturday September 12th, with a triples tournament. Tournament play begins at 2p.m., registration starts at 1p.m. Dig & Dive sports bar and volleyball facility is located at 3525 Lancelot Lane in Wilmington, North Carolina. Besides the exciting volleyball action, the event will also feature prize drawings, giveaways, and live music. Dig & Dive offers a full menu and bar.
The tournament offers competition regardless of your skill level (A, B, and C will be represented). Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes. There will be a sixty-dollar entry fee per team. Tiffany Gainey, head referee at Dig n Dive, advises that, “All games will be played on a doubles court.”
Registration for the tournament will fill up fast so be sure to arrive early. Gainey sums it up by saying, “Come out, have fun, win prizes, and drink beer!” For more information about Dig n Dive or the triples tournament please call 910-202-9350.
