Joan McDermott will represent the University of San Francisco beach program on the NCAA Beach Volleyball Committee.
Photo by: Christina Leung
10/10/2018 12:28:00 PM | General, Beach Volleyball
INDIANAPOLIS — University of San Francisco Deputy Athletics Director/Senior Women's Administrator Joan McDermott has been named to the NCAA Women's Beach Volleyball Committee as the newest member of the six-person national committee.
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The committee oversees collegiate beach volleyball across the country, including the NCAA Championship, now going into its fourth year in 2018-19. McDermott will be one of two West Region representatives. Along with overseeing the competition and growth of the sport, the committee selects and seeds the eight-team national championship tournament held in May.
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"It's been fun learning about all of it," said McDermott, who has a deep and storied background in the sport of volleyball that includes coaching Saint Mary's to the 1985 NAIA national title. "I just see beach volleyball continuing to grow. You see it in the Olympics and summer now, big tournaments and professional players. It's going to continue to take off, so it's exciting to be a part of that because volleyball has always been my sport."
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McDermott replaces outgoing committee member Nina Matthies of Pepperdine fame, who recently retired from Pepperdine last spring. McDermott's current term runs until next August, when she will be eligible for another term.
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"For us, for the University of San Francisco, I think it's perfect timing," said McDermott, "because as we really try to grow our program here, I'll be able to be on the forefront of what's going on with the NCAA and other top programs in the country, so I'll be able to bring some of that information back for us and try to assist our program here."
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McDermott made her connection in the beach volleyball world through Kathy Deboer, the Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and one of the pioneers of collegiate beach volleyball. Deboer worked to get beach volleyball to be recognized as an emerging sport before it being added as an official NCAA championship sport. She reached out to McDermott as one of the more active athletics directors at the Division II level (at Metropolitan State University and Cal State East Bay), and McDermott has been working to help grow the sport ever since.
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"The last four or five years I've been trying to get the word out to add the sport," said McDermott. "It's been one of the fastest growing sports within the NCAA. When I came (to USF) two years ago, I felt like that's a program we really want to grow here. And as we're looking at building our women's teams here more, we now have some separate beach volleyball players. We really want to build our program."
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The committee oversees collegiate beach volleyball across the country, including the NCAA Championship, now going into its fourth year in 2018-19. McDermott will be one of two West Region representatives. Along with overseeing the competition and growth of the sport, the committee selects and seeds the eight-team national championship tournament held in May.
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"It's been fun learning about all of it," said McDermott, who has a deep and storied background in the sport of volleyball that includes coaching Saint Mary's to the 1985 NAIA national title. "I just see beach volleyball continuing to grow. You see it in the Olympics and summer now, big tournaments and professional players. It's going to continue to take off, so it's exciting to be a part of that because volleyball has always been my sport."
Â
McDermott replaces outgoing committee member Nina Matthies of Pepperdine fame, who recently retired from Pepperdine last spring. McDermott's current term runs until next August, when she will be eligible for another term.
Â
"For us, for the University of San Francisco, I think it's perfect timing," said McDermott, "because as we really try to grow our program here, I'll be able to be on the forefront of what's going on with the NCAA and other top programs in the country, so I'll be able to bring some of that information back for us and try to assist our program here."
Â
McDermott made her connection in the beach volleyball world through Kathy Deboer, the Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and one of the pioneers of collegiate beach volleyball. Deboer worked to get beach volleyball to be recognized as an emerging sport before it being added as an official NCAA championship sport. She reached out to McDermott as one of the more active athletics directors at the Division II level (at Metropolitan State University and Cal State East Bay), and McDermott has been working to help grow the sport ever since.
Â
"The last four or five years I've been trying to get the word out to add the sport," said McDermott. "It's been one of the fastest growing sports within the NCAA. When I came (to USF) two years ago, I felt like that's a program we really want to grow here. And as we're looking at building our women's teams here more, we now have some separate beach volleyball players. We really want to build our program."
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