An official beach volleyball club has formed on campus that will be open to all students, offering varying levels of competition and new ways to get involved in a sport on campus.   

Beach volleyball is a variation on volleyball which is played on a sand court with two players on each team.   

The BW Beach Volleyball Club will fall under the Department of Campus Recreation. The club will be split into a recreational team and a competitive team, with room for those who have no prior volleyball experience and those who have played before, said sophomore public health major Allison Weiner, a member of the BW women’s volleyball team and the Beach Volleyball Club student involvement/recruitment chair.  

BW men’s volleyball head coach and Beach Volleyball Club coach and advisor Kyle Mars said that one of the reasons this club was started was so that the varsity volleyball athletes could continue playing during the off-season.   

“We want our players to be able to find ways to get reps when they’re in the offseason so they can continue to get better,” Mars said.   

Weiner said that getting the club started has been a learning experience. She said that she has gained a lot of knowledge about the process of beginning a new club sport, from writing a club charter to taking on a leadership position within the club.   

Student leadership is a major focus of the club, according to Mars. While Mars is there to advise the players on how best to handle situations, he said his goal is to help the athletes lead themselves.  

“This is a wonderful opportunity for all of these student-athletes, and all these students, to practice leadership and making good decisions when they’re running an organization, which is what you all are doing when you get out of college,” Mars said.   

One challenge the club is facing is the renovation process for the beach volleyball court located on North Quad, said Brandon Long, a junior sport management major and member of the men’s volleyball team and the Beach Volleyball Club. The court is currently being renovated to meet standard beach volleyball size regulations, and the team is waiting for those renovations to be completed before beginning practices, Long said.   

Long said that the problematic Ohio weather can make it challenging to have a beach volleyball team, especially in the unpredictable early spring. Luckily, the club has access to local indoor facilities that will allow year-round play.   

The club plans to host an intersquad scrimmage for the rec team, while the competitive team will compete in Association of Volleyball Professionals tournaments against teams outside of BW, Weiner said.   

The club is currently looking for members for both the recreation team as well as the competitive team, and all students are welcome to try out for either team, Long said.   

“We want to just have an opportunity to be open to all students, whether you’re good  

at it, bad at it, [whether], you’re an athlete or not, just something to do besides class all the time,” Long said.   

Weiner said she is looking forward to the opportunity to play beach volleyball, which is a more physical version of volleyball, given the difficulty of moving around in the sand.   

“It’s a fun way to play volleyball, and you don’t have to know how all the positions work … It’s just a really fun thing,” Weiner said.   

Weiner noted that students looking to join the club should be on the lookout for flyers advertising the interest meeting that the club’s executive board is planning for prospective members.  

“You get to meet new people and connect with people that have a shared interest,” Weiner said. 

Weiner said that the club will be tabling in Strosacker Hall and has an Instagram page with a link to an interest form that prospective players can fill out.  

You can follow the Beach Volleyball Club on Instagram at @bw_beachvb. Students interested in joining the club can contact Allison Weiner at [email protected].