Women's Sand Volleyball

Good Day Volleyball Coaches and Enthusiasts,

My name is Jeffrey Doutrick, a local to the Daytona Beach area for over 15 years and a strong supporter and activist for the local and regional volleyball scene. I have been speaking with several members of the local volleyball community over the past few months regarding the recent changes in the NCAA concerning sand volleyball and the lack of an organized system to help the female volleyball players familiarize themselves with the sport.

In 2009, the NCAA Division I and Division II Legislative Councils added sand volleyball to the list of emerging sports for women, clearing the way for schools to use the sport toward minimum sponsorship requirements and minimum financial aid awards.  The NCAA will call the new sport "sand" volleyball, rather than "beach" volleyball, in hopes that the sport will have broad appeal across the country.  Already schools including The University of Texas, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Utah are competing in collegiate competitions.  The NCAA is currently developing the rules that will govern sand volleyball as a collegiate sport, including regulations on financial aid, playing dates and recruiting.  Institutions will be able to sponsor varsity programs starting in the 2010-2011 academic year.

The suggested format at the collegiate level will have a school team, consisting of five doubles teams, competing in a flighted competition against the opposing school. The five doubles teams will be ranked 1 to 5, with the best team being ranked 1, the second best team ranked 2 and so on, and will play their respectively ranked team from the opposing school in a three game match. The school that wins three of the five matches will win the competition.

Knowing this, as well as how sand tournaments and leagues are played, I am proposing that we begin a program that allows the female players in the area to play in a friendly and competitive environment that prepares them for this type of competition. The sand season must not intrude with the indoor season but rather bridge the lapse in court time. The sand game inherently produces more rounded volleyball players by limiting the participants on each side of the net and demanding that each player develop every skill required to play the game. Every sand volleyball player is required to pass, set, defend and attack. In comparison with the indoor game, the sand player participates in every rally which leads to more contact with the ball - and this creates better players. The proposed program should include local leagues, a tournament series and a local high school competition schedule that runs between May and August. 

I have been running a local sand league for the area players since 2008 using a simple format that allows individuals to sign up and play in a two person team competition without having to choose a permanent partner. This format, which I have tagged as "Beach King" because it has been predominantly male participants up to this point, puts four players on a net for a match that consists of three games. During the first game, Players 1 and 2 pair up against Players 3 and 4; in the second game, Players 1 and 4 pair up against Players 2 and 3; and in the final game, Players 1 and 3 pair up against Players 2 and 4.  Each game is played to 21 points and the scores of each game are recorded. The players' win/loss record and points for/against are used to rank the players for the following week of play. This system allows for the natural sorting of skill level throughout the league, with the higher level players moving up in the rankings and the intermediate to beginner level players moving down in the rankings. The rankings are used to determine court assignments. Players 1 through 4 would be placed on Court 1, Players 5-8 would be placed on Court 2 and so on. This ranking changes every week depending on the players performance in the previous weeks and thus allows for players to team up and compete against players that they would not normally have the opportunity to do so in other organized environments. This system also promotes one of the greatest attributes of the sand volleyball game which is the positive community and sportsmanship, regardless of your hometown, school affiliation or financial status.

In conclusion, we don't have time to do much this season but I am willing to run a "Beach Queen" league on the local courts (currently five) at the Ocean Deck just south of the Main Street Pier on the beach beginning as early as Monday, July 5th. Tuesday nights are already in use by the Beach King league starting at 5:30pm but all other days are available. This league would run for 6 weeks and end during the second week of August. I have posted a registration page on the local volleyball website that will allow individuals to sign up, at this time I have the league set for Wednesday evenings at 5:30pm but this can be changed based on feedback from the participants. To register for the league you must be a member of the site, this is free and only requires a valid email address - so that the players can be reached in case of schedule changes. The link to the website is 

http://daytona.localvolleyball.net   

Thank you for your time and interest in local volleyball. If you have any suggestions or would like to be a part of  this effort, please feel free to contact me.

Best Regards, Jeffrey Doutrick

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