Arizona makes girls’ beach volleyball a high school sport

Presenting the girls’ sport sure to be most frequently infiltrated by boys. Officially it will be called Sand Volleyball, because, well, Arizona has a remarkable lack of coastline. But California and Florida are hanging their heads in shame at this hour as the Arizona Interscholastic Association voted unanimously to formally adopt the sport, with competition set to begin next spring. It’ll be teams of 12 girls split into five doubles teams, with two alternates. I’d imagine the bikinis are out.

Fun quote with the word “traction” in it:

“I think it shows the traction that the sport is likely to have going forward as more and more NCAA institutions adopt sand volleyball,” USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal said. “Arizona could easily become the model for the direction other states will follow in making this a sanctioned high school sport.”

Beach volleyball is on the wane as a professional sport in the U.S. — the Association of Volleyball Professionals Tour has cut back substantially since its peak in 2008. But the sport is still strong in the Olympics, where former Stanford standouts Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have won two gold medals.

Personally I’ve never cared for it, having the talent as I do with always finding the random, hot charcoal briquette in the sand with my bare foot.