By Ed Piper
Thursday, March 3, a Santa Ana wind-warmed day followed by increasing cold and wind headed toward an overnight rainstorm, was a history-making day in some quarters.
Kelly Drobeck, La Jolla High's girls volleyball coach, witnessed her girls beach volleyball team compete in its first official CIF match at Cathedral Catholic High, scene of her earlier coaching.
After years of work and struggle by Drobeck and others in San Diego County, girls beach volleyball gained official recognition by CIF to begin competition this spring. Previously, the sport was only held as a club sport not officially tied to the high school.
Not a lot of people at the match on the beautifully-constructed CCHS courts, next to the baseball diamond, seemed aware of the milestone. An assistant coach for Cathedral wasn't aware of La Jolla High's dominance in girls beach volleyball in past years.
Students from Cathedral who attended the match in support of their classmates got the message. One, a player for the boys volleyball team, acknowledged that boys beach volleyball is behind girls beach, not yet recognized officially and still working on the arduous path that Drobeck and others pulled girls beach volleyball down.
Part of the strategy to have the sport officially recognized by CIF is to have enough schools in the area with viable teams, coaches, and facilities to continue competing in the sport. The word was put out, and slowly, over the past decade, more local high schools were added to the interlocking network of beach volleyball institutions to build the sport to where it is today.
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