This year, beach volleyball has been introduced as a new DV sport. Though the school already has both mens and womens volleyball teams, beach volleyball will be entirely separate.
The sport was invented as a variation of indoor volleyball in Santa Monica in the 1920s, and there are major differences between the two. Most obviously, beach volleyball is played on a sandy court while indoor volleyball is played on hardwood flooring, but that’s only scratching the surface. Beach volleyball courts are smaller and the matches are shorter. Additionally, beach volleyball is played in teams of two to four, instead of the indoor volleyball standard of six people. Different strategies and tactics are needed to accommodate for the changes, making it a very different game.
“We are playing on sand, which makes it extremely hard to move and jump. You also have to play a lot smarter in beach. Since playing on the sand makes it so hard to jump it also makes it very hard to hit, so you have to learn how to make smart shots,” freshman Livia Kristic explained.
In SRVUSD, the idea of a beach volleyball team began to circulate last year. Representatives at the district board meetings proposed high school teams, so DV Athletic Director SueEllen Thomas heard the idea and began work to include it at Dougherty this year.
“When things percolated and people were excited about it, I knew I wanted to bring it back to our kids,” Thomas stated.
The team would ideally include 12 teams of two, with each pair learning and practicing together and competing in tournaments.
“I’m looking forward to getting closer to the girls on the team. I already know all of them because we all played indoor in the fall, but I haven’t gotten the chance to get that close with most of them because we were all on different teams,” Kristic said.
However, there were drawbacks. For starters, none of the high schools in the district have proper beach volleyball courts. Though there are some at the parks and lower schools, none were available for use by the team at the time.
“We went to the city and tried to get some time on our sand courts,” Thomas continued. “They gave us some options that were way out of budget, so we went back to them to try and work a deal. We’re still working on some of their details.”
Currently, the team hopes to be able to use Iron Horse Middle School’s facility as their home court. However, since other school teams may also use those courts, there may be issues with game and practice timing. Another option would be to build courts at the individual high schools, though there is no guarantee that one would be installed at Dougherty. At this time, the team is splitting practices between Bellingham Square Park and the Iron Horse courts.
Another leading issue was that of finding a coach. Dougherty has one indoor volleyball coach, Brett Moore, who coaches both the JV and varsity teams for mens and womens indoor volleyball.
“Our indoor volleyball coach is so talented, and he’s coaching for mens volleyball this season as well, so I knew I needed to find a different coach and not burn him out,” Thomas explained.
She reached out to club programs and other beach volleyball enthusiasts and specialists in the area in order to get a feel for anyone interested in coaching. Finally, they found Trang Kristic, a parent who was willing to coach the team and had background experience with the sport.
For their first year, the team will focus on being more relaxed and less competitive, allowing for excitement and recognition to drum up for the sport.
“It’s mostly more laid-back. Of course we still practice hard and display our best efforts but overall there isn’t too much pressure put on us. I think the priority of the coaches is for us to learn about the sport while still having as much fun and enjoying this season as much as possible.” Kristic finished.
Thomas was enthusiastic about the turnout for the open gyms and tryouts, which concluded on Feb. 21. She and athletes like Livia Kristic are energized about practicing for games and championships.
“I’m excited about the turnout we’ve had and the coach we have, I think she’s really excited about it and has a lot of good experience. I think the passion for the sport is really going to grow,” Thomas concluded.
