NCAA schools kicking sand at beach volleyball

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The future of beach volleyball as an NCAA sport is in jeopardy, with opposition arising from an unlikely source.

Coaches and administrators at traditional indoor volleyball powers like Penn State, the three-time defending national champion, and about half of the beach-blanketed Pac 10 have forced a vote at the NCAA convention in Atlanta today to remove “sand volleyball” from a list of potential varsity sports.

Even at schools without prominent programs, athletic directors complain that making the beach game an option — schools would have no obligation to add it — will pressure them to compete, stressing their already stretched budgets.

“We’re 38 years from when Title IX was passed, and we’ve forgotten all the things that got us here,” said Kathy DeBoer, the executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and a leading proponent of making sand volleyball an official NCAA sport.

“What we’re looking for is more opportunities for women to participate in intercollegiate sports,” said DeBoer, a longtime indoor coach and former professional basketball player. “If we had only added women’s sports that we had money for, and we had only added sports that didn’t borrow from other sports, I wouldn’t be here. There was never extra money; it was always inconvenient to add sports for women.”

Fresh off an American sweep of the gold medals in the Beijing Olympics that gave the already telegenic sport a boost in popularity, the NCAA agreed last year to add “sand volleyball” to its list of emerging sports for women.

The decision ignited a battle between the two-on-two beach discipline and more the traditional six-on-six game “Sand volleyball will have a direct impact on indoor volleyball,” said Sue Scheetz, the associate athletic director at Penn State, listing the need for additional coaches, scholarships, facilities and travel, as well as a potential drain on athletes from the indoor programs.