The boys have finally gotten a beach volleyball team despite the fact that girls have had a beach team since spring 21-22. Around thirty kids are expected to try out for boys beach this year. There has been a boys indoor team for eighteen years, but have been waiting for a beach team. Beach volleyball is very different from normal volleyball though, volleyball is primarily played indoors with six players on the court, but beach is played outdoors on sand with two players on the court at a time.
The coach for this new team is Fred Mann who has coached volleyball for years. Mr. Mann is the coach of this new team and he is optimistic about this season. Mann explained that he wants to teach the kids how to play and this sport will become something that they will love in the future because Mann greatly enjoyed playing this sport for a large part of his life. Mann has coached both boys and girls volleyball for close to thirty years and has coached hundreds of club teams. He explained that the love for beach volleyball came from watching it on television since the 80s. Mann said, “You know, the reason I came out to the United States is to play beach volleyball.” Watching some of the greatest players of beach volleyball lit his passion for the sport.
Tate Higgins, a junior and volleyball player, was asked about which is harder beach volleyball or indoor, he said, “I’d say indoor volleyball you have six people, but in beach volleyball you have only up to two, so two people have to take up the whole court and basically you just have to touch the ball every time.” The beach court is smaller than the normal indoor volleyball courts, the beach volleyball courts are 16 meters long and eight meters wide, but a normal volleyball court is 18 meters by nine meters. They also usually play beach with a larger, softer, and lighter ball opposed to the normal heavy and smaller ball for indoor courts.
Greyson Carter, another volleyball player, who is expected to also play beach, elaborates on this when he said, “The endurance, doing anything in the sand is so tiring.” Carter also said that he is optimistic about this season because last year indoor volleyball won state championships. He hopes to go undefeated despite losing a big senior class of volleyball players. Last year the volleyball team had seven seniors graduate, but the players said that there is a large freshmen class and they are expecting a good season.
Some partners that are highly anticipated this season are Brady Breinholt with Zach Tomlinson or Tate Higgins with Greyson Carter. Tryouts for boys beach were the week of August 18th according to Coach Mann. The first match will take place at four p.m on September eighth at Mesa High.
