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Beach Volleyball As An NCAA Sport? Yes.

Jan 16, 2010, 9:30 AM EDT

And if you ask me, we are all better off because of their decision. As is the case with anything the NCAA does, the decision to add beach volleyball (actually, the NCAA insists that you refer to it as “sand volleyball” for some unknown reason) was not without controversy.


The Big Ten – a bunch of malcontents, I tell you – was one organization that attempted to block beach – oops – sand volleyball’s inclusion as an NCAA sport, citing that there is the potential for schools in southern states as well as larger schools with more money to enjoy a competitive advantage over schools in northern states. A reasonable argument to an extent, but couldn’t you say that schools located in the south and schools with larger enrollments enjoy a competitive advantage in nearly every sport? That’s why people still go to Arizona State.
Unfortunately for the Big Ten and their allies, they came up 12 votes short of those that were needed to override the NCAA’s decision. Ha ha.
One person who is thrilled about this development is Olympic beach volleyball legend Kerri Walsh.

“This is an amazing day for volleyball and all of women’s athletics,” said volleyball star Kerri Walsh, who won two NCAA championships playing indoors at Stanford and won two Olympic gold medals on the beach. “NCAA sand volleyball will grow the game and give wonderful opportunities to young women. … I’m thrilled to know the next generation of volleyball stars will have collegiate sand volleyball.”

Ah yes, beach volleyball in college. It makes me wish I could go back and attend an institute of higher learning just so I could cut class and scope out the lovely ladies while watching practice. I’m sure it would have been a far superior experience to what I did when I didn’t go to class way back when. Take it from me, no matter what anyone tries to tell you, the Dungeons & Dragons club is not the place to pick up chicks. I assumed college gals would have been so much more sophisticated, you know?
Beach volleyball gets approval from NCAA as an emerging sport [USA Today]