Girls’ volleyball creates a spring beach team

After getting encouragement and approval from the International Beach Volleyball League (IBVL), the Samo indoor girls volleyball team has made the transition to the sand court as a spring sport, though it is not an official school sport. The team acts as a separate beach volleyball club team with an affiliation to Samo.Because the program is technically a club team and not a school team, each player has had to pay a fee to the team and become a member of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Samo’s indoor girls volleyball team remains, and is now supplemented by a beach program made of eight girls selected from the indoor volleyball program.Beach volleyball, unlike indoor volleyball, is played in pairs, so the Samo beach volleyball team has formed five pairs that train twice a week after school to prepare for tournaments. Out of these five pairs, the top three will compete in tournaments hosted through the AAU from March through May at locations up and down the coast such as Hermosa Beach, Santa Barbara and Dockweiler Beach.“I think it’s something a lot of us players have been wanting to do,” player Hannah Starkey (’15) said. “Beach [volleyball] makes you a better indoor player because you have to be more aggressive with only two people covering the same size court. Plus playing on the sand conditions you — playing on a wood court is much more forgiving when you have to go for a ball 15 feet away.”Coach Tiffany Rochelle, experienced beach and indoor player, she has high expectations for the beach program’s first season.“I just want the girls to learn,” Rochelle said. “I think they’re going to learn a lot and I think they’re going to improve immensely. The biggest problem is going to be learning to move in the sand, but once they do, indoors will just be easier and their motions will become so much more fluid.”In addition to being helpful training for the players, the opportunity to play beach is another tie to the girls volleyball program, according to Kiley McGill (’14).“Since I’m graduating this year, indoor volleyball would be my last season with the team and coaches,” McGill said. “But since the beach team now exists, I have more opportunities to play with my team and get some more practice instead of having no sport the last six months of my senior year — which is really useful since I’m being recruited by college beach teams, not just indoor.”Although Samo’s girl’s volleyball coach Liane Sato is not officially involved in the new beach program, she has worked hard to organize the program, assisting in things such as tryouts, player selection and uniform sizing. According to Sato, her participation is only fit since all of the players are primarily indoor players and the program will help them improve.“My generation grew up playing on the beach because we could walk there, it was free and beach doubles is an exciting and dynamic game to watch,” Sato said. “This new program opens many opportunities for female players to continue excelling in a sport they love. It’s a great off season program training and the best part about beach volleyball is that players need to pass, set, hit, and play defense — all the necessary skills in volleyball.”Beach player Lauren Rosenquist (‘16) says she is determined to get the most out of her participation in beach season and transfer her skills to the wood court.“Beach and indoor volleyball are different games however I am hoping to game some serious skill in both my passing as well as timing on the court that I can bring to my indoor game,” Rosenquist said. “My hopes for the season are that we all develop new skills, play our hearts out, and walk away from this experience with memories and lessons that will accompany us in both our volleyball mindset as well as our day-to-day lives.”With their first practice on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the team is excited to move forward with their season and make the transition from the court to the sand.“I mean it’s our first year, so I don’t really know what the competition is like compared to the skill level of this team,” Rochelle said. “But I think if they set their minds to it, we’ll be able to beat anyone. We clearly don’t have the biggest team but that doesn’t matter on the beach. Whoever can put the ball where the other team isn’t will win. And whoever has the most heart. That’s beach volleyball.”