This school year, coach Katie Quigley and 12 students and have come together to form the ladies Club Beach Volleyball team. This team may not be official yet; however, Quigley is trying to ensure the team is practicing regularly at Green Road community center.

“Beach Volleyball is a growing sport among people of all ages especially in high school areas. It is a low-impact sport that is very competitive and fun to play. I saw it as an opportunity to have the volleyball program grow at our school while promoting a healthy outdoor lifestyle. It’s a sport that can be played anywhere and with a low amount of people which is part of why it is so accessible to the public,” Quigley said.

With this being the first year as a club team, a lot of work went into getting the word out and becoming organized.
“We started talking about it last year with our old coach Jenna, but our coach now, Katie Quigley plays beach outside of school also, so she thought it would be a good idea to also bring it in,” junior Kylie Grandy said.

The team is steadily working together to improve their skills and making sure that the sport becomes more well known.
“I know volleyball isn’t a big sport right now, so I think for the school it is good to make an unknown sport more known,”Grandy said.

At some point, the team and Quigley hope that beach volleyball will become an official school sport.
“I played beach volleyball before just with my friends, and it was really fun. But I feel that if beach volleyball was a real sport it would be even more fun,” junior Rachel Walker said.

By putting so much time and effort into making this team, it should eventually encourage more students to get involved, which could help make the team official.

“The NCHSAA (NC High School Athletic Association) is looking to make “sand volleyball” an official school sport, but right now it is only a club team. We are part of the group of high schools across the state that all meet up and compete,” Quigley said.

Quigley believes that by making this a school sport, it will improve the athletes’ skills, which will better prepare them for volleyball in the fall.

“Our team is very new to this sport with only two of the 12 girls having played beach on official teams. With that being said, they are all highly competitive players, and I am proud of the hard work they are putting in,” Quigley said.“I can’t wait to see how training in the sand will improve their indoor game this fall.”