When Bethany Randall began playing beach volleyball nearly two years ago, she never envisioned it could lead to a Division I athletic scholarship.
“It really just started with trying to get in shape,” said Randall, a Land O’ Lakes resident and senior at Seffner Christian Academy.
Starting next spring, Randall will play women’s beach volleyball at Jacksonville State University, a Division I school in Jacksonville, Alabama — roughly eight hours north of Tampa and about 90 miles west of Atlanta, Georgia.
That’s quite an achievement, considering the sport became sanctioned in Florida just last year — through a partnership with the independent Sunshine State Athletic Conference (SSAC) and the Florida Region of USA Volleyball.
(Courtesy of Jeff Randall)
The inaugural 2017 season — comprised of 22 Florida schools — concluded in April with a state championship tournament at Hickory Point Beach, a 21-court beach volleyball facility in Tavares, Florida.
Besides Seffner Christian, several Tampa Bay area schools fielded squads in Year 1, including Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School, Carrollwood Day School and Indian Rocks Christian School.
Similar to many girls, Randall grew up playing indoor volleyball, taking up the sport in middle school and playing all through high school.
She — like many peers — initially viewed the sand-based sport as just a fun, noncompetitive alternative to oft-expensive indoor club leagues.
“Honestly, before I realized it was a college sport, I didn’t think of playing it,” Randall said.
Before long, however, she was hooked.
“I picked it up as quick as I could,” she said.
“It just turned into something she fell in love with,” added her father Jeff Randall, also Seffner Christian’s beach volleyball coach.
As passion for the sport grew, her skill did, too.
She became Seffner Christian’s top-seeded player this past season — catching the attention of college coaches.
Though she considered in-state schools such as Florida Gulf Coast University and Stetson University, Bethany Randall couldn’t resist the out-of-state university’s offerings.
“I liked the family atmosphere — (the coaches) put a big emphasis on that,” she said. “As for the scenery, it’s in the mountains, so it’s just a different experience than Florida,” she said.
Aside from the obvious, several distinctions exist between indoor and outdoor volleyball, beginning with the size of the half courts — a beach volleyball square is eight meters and the indoor square is nine.
Also, beach volleyball is played between teams of two rather than six, with no substitutions. Matches use rally scoring and are best-of-three sets played to 21, though the third set is played to 15.
Similar to high school tennis matches, sand matches are officiated by the players.
And, each team fields four pairs per match, though only the top three pairs, or seeds, count toward the final results.
The sand sport, according to Jeff Randall, lends itself to well-rounded players, as opposed to primarily offensive or defensive volleyball specialists prevalent with indoor volleyball.
“You’ve got to be able to do it all. You’ve got to hit, you’ve got to pass, you’ve got to serve, you’ve got to receive, you’ve got to block. You’ve got to do everything.”
It also requires more strategy and game planning, plus accommodating for factors like wind speed and sun direction.
“It’s like a pawn game,” Jeff Randall said.
That — and the added responsibilities having just one teammate — makes the sport more challenging than the traditional game, Bethany Randall said.
“It requires a lot more athleticism,” she said. “Just moving in the sand, you have to be able to (quickly) get back down and get back up.”
Even so, Bethany Randall finds the sport ” a lot more enjoyable” than indoor volleyball.
Thousands seem to agree, as its popularity nationwide has risen in the past decade.
According to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), nearly 500,000 females ages 13 to 25 have taken up the sport since 2007.
Women’s beach volleyball, moreover, has been labeled the fastest growing NCAA sport — ever.
In 2012, there were just 16 Division I teams. It since has burgeoned to 54 during the 2016-2017 season.
And whether it’s college or high school, it doesn’t take much to sponsor a program — mostly because of low overhead costs compared to other sports.
“It’s such as easy sport to field,” Jeff Randall said. “There’s little equipment — you buy two balls, you go to a public court; and, you really only need six girls.”
From a coaches’ perspective, Jeff Randall anticipates the sport soon will be played in dozens more Florida high schools, and eventually will be sanctioned by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), the main governing body for high school athletics in the state of Florida
“Five years from now, it’s going to be so different — every school will have a team,” he said, assuredly.
The sport isn’t just reserved for the younger generation, either.
“It’s something you can play a long time,” Jeff Randall said. “I’m 47 years old and am still playing fairly competitive, where a lot of sports you’re just done at a certain age.”
Published May 17, 2017