Students yearning for the sandy, sunny beach life between vacations will soon be able to ease their strain with a new sport coming to campus.
The UCA Board of Trustees approved, 8 – 0, beach volleyball as a sport during its meeting today. It will start at the beginning of the 2016 – 2017 academic year.
“The NCAA [implemented]beach volleyball as a sport in 2010, and it has been one of the fastest growing sports since then,” Athletic Director Brad Teague said.
The Division of Student Services has already obtained bids to build new courts for the intramural sports program, and the beach volleyball team will use the same courts. Partial funding for the courts will also come from student fees.
Teague said the athletic department is seeking to increase women’s sports on campus, and beach volleyball is expected to bring in more female athletes. The beach volleyball season will be played in March and April, not conflicting with indoor volleyball’s fall season.
Adding beach volleyball as a sport will require hiring a new assistant coach and supplementing the head volleyball coach’s salary for the extra responsibility of coaching it. The athletic department expects that additional traveling and equipment expenses will be covered by NCAA revenue and student participation.
In the Southland Conference, Texas A&M—Corpus Christi approved beach volleyball in May following sponsors Houston Baptist and New Orleans, according to the Texas A&M—Corpus Christi Athletic Department website.
image via wikipedia.org
