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Volleyball USA Magazine

Beach Volleyball

Sand in the City

Volleyball USA, the official quarterly publication of USA Volleyball featured the San Francisco sand program in its Spring 2015 edition of the magazine. Connor Hastings sat down with co-head coaches of the program, Eyal Zimet and Gilad Doron, to talk about the process of starting a program on the Hilltop three seasons ago and how the Dons have begun to build for the future on the sand while strengthening the program on the court. The following excerpt can be found in Volleyball USA magazine. The complete article can be accessed here.

Running a Sand Program - It's Worth the Work
Our sand program runs in conjunction with our indoor program, so there's no separation between the two in terms of scholarships or funding. Coaching both indoor and sand means we are stretched thin in terms of workload, but this is what we love to do and this is the way we can get the sport growing at our university, so we welcome the challenge.

Having a sand program is an added plus when we are recruiting a player for the indoor team, and we now have more players coming to the program with sand experience, which makes the learning process faster. In our program's first couple years of sand training, we've focused on helping our players understand the dynamic of playing with two people on the court and learning the crucial parts of the game; strategy and tactics will come further down the road. Our practices at Ocean Beach help players learn to deal with the wind. One practice in the wind can be worth 10 practices with no wind. It has been very rewarding to see our players adapt and pick up the sand game. At certain points, we'll be watching rallies and think, "Wow, that actually looked pretty smooth," which is a great moment for a coach when it happens.

Benefits for the Players - Love at First Spike
Once players start playing sand, they usually love it. It's a great combination for our indoor players, because instead of just doing individual training and conditioning in the spring, they get the chance to go outside and play on the sand, which won't have as much impact on their body and will help them improve as volleyball players. We tell every player on our indoor team that they're going to play sand in the spring because that is what we do. No one's going to say, "I'm not going to come here because I don't want to play sand." They're going to be excited to play more and become better players. Today's high school players are unbelievably lucky to be coming up during this time, as they are part of a whole generation of players that are going to grow and become more well-rounded volleyball players as a result of the sand opportunities available.

Joining the Sand Movement - Now's the Time
There's been huge growth in sand volleyball at the junior level over the last three years. Many of the freshmen players now entering college are coming from junior clubs with sand facilities and programs. The NCAA wants to add more sand volleyball opportunities, and universities are going to be putting more resources and investment into the sport with full-time coaches and scholarships. As more schools add sand programs, the competition will only get tougher. We could see the number of collegiate sand programs reaching 150 in the not-too-distant future. If there are coaches and athletic directors out there who are hesitant to start a program, this is the time to jump on board and be one of the leading universities in the sport. It's better to be out in front of it than to wait and see what happens and ultimately join the race a couple of legs behind. Starting a sand program requires a ton of patience and you have to have a clear understanding of what you're getting yourself into, but it's hands-down worth it. For us, it's a no brainer. It's such a great sport with such a great benefit for the players, and this is a great time to be a part of it.

To read more about Doron and Zimet's thoughts on building a sand program, click here, or visit usavolleyball.org for more information on the sport of volleyball across the nation.
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