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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.
*Image retrieved from and property of www.vocative.com 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.”
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Tag: Fastest Growing
The Growth of Beach Volleyball
| 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. References Beach Volleyball Equipment and History. (2015). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.olympic.org/beach-volleyball-equipment-and-history?tab=history Sorenson, A. (2015). THERE’S A NEW KID IN TOWN: FORTY-ONE TEAMS AND COUNTING- THE FASTEST GROWING SPORT IN NCAA HISTORY. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2014/02/25/kid-town-fortyone-teams-counting-fastest-growing-sport-ncaa-history/ (2015). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.teamusa.org/usa-volleyball/usa-teams/beach-volleyball/olympic-games-info/beach-olympic-history
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