By Ed Piper
An assistant coach for St. Augustine said Tues., Sept. 10, that the word was "possibly [CIF sanction] is coming next year" to make boys beach volleyball an official school sport.
That's more than Dave Jones, associate coach at La Jolla, said a few weeks ago, when he discussed the status of the male counterpart to girls beach volleyball, which sailed through to official CIF status a year or more ago.
On that occasion, Jones, a long-time classroom teacher on campus and coach in the gym and on the beach, said, "In the past, it was encouraged to go ahead and start (boys beach) teams" in one of the 10 state sections, not having to coordinate it with other sections or with the state office.
Now, he said, the word is "you have to work state-wide to establish teams in each section", and move more in lock-step in coordinating it.
We'll see. Kelly Drobeck, the LJHS girls coach, successfully militated for girls beach volleyball to become an official sport (versus "club") along with other coaches. The Vikings won the first two San Diego Section titles in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, they fell in the playoffs.
A major reason for the impetus in girls/womens beach volleyball was NCAA recognition of the sport, and subsequent offering of scholarships. That really pushed things forward, and established a need for athletes to fill teams.
And behind that was a push to bring equity on the women's side alongside tackle football on the men's side. Football is an enormous sport, with up to 53 student-athletes carried on the team. Title IX, instituted in 1972-73, requires that scholarships and facilities be equal in colleges. Fifty-three athletes is a lot of students to equal on the female side. Beach volleyball is one of the sports. Flag football, supported by the NFL, is newly coming into its own as another sport to involve girls/women.
Interestingly, women's and men's flag football will be included in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
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