I’d planned on writing a blog post about the sand volleyball vote taking place today but luckily (for me!) the New York Times has done it for me.

I have to admit, I am on the side of putting off sand volleyball for the time being. Non-traditional volleyball powers are starting to catch up to the big guys in the indoor game. Bringing sand volleyball into the mix will give those big names back their huge recruiting advantage and it will take time for other schools to catch up again, if they ever can. There are other issues too (money and resources, coaches and players having to do double duty, scheduling for schools in colder climates…) that need to be hashed out before we rush into this. Don’t let sand volleyball supporters beat you over the head with the line that people against this are “eliminating opportunities for women”. That is not the intention. In fact you could say we’re trying to protect the opportunities for women that are already there. The end of that article says:

The best solution, some say, is for both sides to take more time to resolve their differences.

“They are politicizing it and once it’s off the table, it’s hard to get it back,” said Billy Stone, an executive producer for the CBS College Sports Network…

I’d say something similar — one it’s approved it’ll be hard to take it away later. Let’s fix the problems before we approve it, not after.

UPDATE: 166 of 284 schools voted to not go forward with sand volleyball at this time — that’s about 59%. Unfortunately a 62.5% majority was required. AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer (a very vocal supporter of going forward with sand volleyball ASAP) said:

The length and tone of the debate over sand volleyball in Division I means we have much work to do. While we are thrilled about the new opportunities for women that will be created by this sport, we are also mindful that the legislative parameters for governance of this sport still need careful deliberation.

Hopefully those in charge will keep that admirable sentiment at the forefront of their minds as they move forward without the endorsement a significant majority of schools.

UPDATE: Just a clarification. I don’t think many people are against sand volleyball itself. I think most of us who opposed it right now wanted to ensure that it was going to be implemented in a way that would not interfere or harm the indoor game. If those specific safeguards had been decided beforehand there would probably have been almost unanimous support for sand volleyball.