Locals join in on the sand volleyball craze
Sand volleyball will become a fully sponsored NCAA sport in 2016, but locals are already on the sport's bandwagon.
Locals join in on the sand volleyball craze Sand volleyball will become a fully sponsored NCAA sport in 2016, but locals are already on the sport's bandwagon. Check out this story on lohud.com: http://lohud.us/1m5HRZf
Mike Zacchio, mzacchio@lohud.com Published 9:50 p.m. ET July 12, 2014 | Updated 2:39 a.m. ET July 13, 2014
Clarkstown South twins Barbara, left, and Nastasia Kapustin play sand volleyball at the Herb Reisman Sports Complex in Pomona July 4, 2014.(Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)Buy Photo
Sand volleyball will become a fully sanctioned NCAA sport in 2016.
Forty Division I and Division II programs currently offer the sport.
Clarkstown South twins Barbara and Nastasia Kapustin play in a sand volleyball club.
The fastest growing collegiate sport is not played on a field or on a court, and it is arguably the cheapest sport to sponsor. Sand volleyball, commonly referred to as "beach volleyball," will become an official NCAA sport in 2016 after a rapid increase in participation, which shows no signs of slowing down.
In order for a sport to be fully sanctioned by the NCAA, complete with a national championship tournament, a minimum of 40 programs at the Division I or Division II level must offer the sport for two consecutive years. With the completion of the spring 2014 season, exactly 40 programs have completed at least one year of sand volleyball, according to Kathy DeBoer, executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
"It's an incredibly exciting thing for the sport of volleyball," said DeBoer, who has been the AVCA's executive director since 2006. "Really, the people who started the wave were the Olympians who were winning gold medals in beach (volleyball)."
DeBoer, who coached Ferris State University, a Division II school, for four years before spending nine seasons at the University of Kentucky, said it is "a landmark time in the sport of volleyball."
Clarkstown South twins Barbara and Nastasia Kapustin picked up the sport about two years ago. They say the sport differs significantly from the indoor style.
"Beach doesn't hurt when you fall and dive," Barbara Kapustin said lightheartedly. "Beach is a lot more dynamic and skills. If you don't have your serve-receive going for that one day, you're basically (in trouble)."
The 6-foot-1 seniors play alongside teammate and classmate Annie Singh with Volleyball Long Island, an open club that often plays at Long Beach Island and Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
"With beach, you have to be smart with conserving your energy because it takes a lot out of you, especially playing on sand all day," said Nastasia Kapustin, who prefers to play in a gym. "I like indoor because I feel like I jump higher.
"It's a lot more technique-oriented; it doesn't really matter how hard you hit the ball," Nastasia said of the beach game.
DeBoer said that a player must be "elite" in order to be successful in sand, comparing it to being "like a decathlon athlete in track."
"Indoor volleyball is a specialist's game. You have a setter, and that's what they do; you have a libero, and that's what they do," DeBoer said. "Beach is a generalist's game. It doesn't matter how elite of a hitter you are if you can't serve and receive the ball."
The Kapustins are looking at different colleges for when their high school careers come to an end. Nastasia is looking at possible Division I programs Iona and Loyola (Maryland), neither of which offers sand volleyball.
Haldane senior Kelly Vahos, arguably the area's top player in her graduating class, is orally committed to James Madison to play indoor volleyball, but has had the itch to play sand volleyball for years.
James Madison offers a 4-on-4 intramural sand volleyball program, but Vahos said the demanding schedule of a Division I athlete won't allow her to participate in it.
"Athletes who play sand are incredible," said Vahos, who led Haldane to its second Class D state title in three years last fall. "That's why athletes on the West Coast are recruited so much, compared to the East Coast."
Twitter: @Zacchio_LoHud
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