Beach volleyball is heading to the high school sports arena.
The sport popularized by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings could be coming to a school near you. High school beach volleyball will be played by teams of two, similar to the Olympics. Stuart Weiss heads the Sunshine State Athletics Conference, which is organizing the league.
“If you watch tv, if you watch the Olympics, girl’s beach volleyball is a very exciting sport, it’s very popular. So we’re just excited to be able to offer that to the athletes and schools of the state of Florida,” he said.
The SSAC largely caters to small private and charter schools. It is the first Florida conference to scoop up the sport. Steve Bishop heads the Florida Region of USA Volleyball. He says it’s harder for large conferences like the Florida High School Athletic Association to bring on new sports.
“Smaller conferences, smaller associations, smaller businesses, for that matter, all operate smaller ships and are able to turn them much more quickly, perhaps. Sometimes with fewer obstacles or hurdles to overcome. The option is there for all of them, and I think SSAC was able to make that decision faster than other organizations,” he said.
The league is scheduled to launch in Spring 2017.
