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Collegiate Beach Volleyball |
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NCAA Division I schools voted down a sand volleyball override today at the NCAA Convention in Atlanta, meaning the sport may be played at the nation's biggest colleges as soon as next spring.
Following a U.S. gold medal sweep in beach volleyball at the Beijing Olympics, the NCAA last April added "sand volleyball" to its list of emerging sports for women. The emerging sports designation is intended to encourage the development of opportunities for women by awarding NCAA subsidies to colleges that create programs.
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This decision, however, sparked a battle between the two-on-two beach game and the six-on-six indoor discipline. Sixty-three schools-including former NCAA indoor champions Nebraska, Stanford and Washington in addition to 2009 champion Penn State and the rest of the Big Ten-requested an override vote to take sand volleyball off the emerging sports list. At least five-eighths of schools at today's convention would have had to vote for the override to eliminate sand volleyball.
Today's vote allows schools to continue building varsity programs for the 2010-2011 school year and gives the sport 10 years to develop a following to bump it up to an NCAA championship sport. Emerging sports are given full championship status if 40 or more schools start programs within 10 years.
Opponents of sand volleyball often cited financial constraints heading into today's vote. No school will be forced to compete if it cannot afford to or otherwise chooses not to.
Sand volleyball is expected to be played in the spring, as indoor volleyball takes place in the fall, allowing athletes to play for both teams.
Sand volleyball's status as an emerging sport in Division II has not been challenged. Division III administrators chose not to grant the sport emerging status.
-AVP Press
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