The NCAA Division I Legislative Council Administrative Committee has sponsored a proposal for the 2014-15 legislative cycle to make sand volleyball the NCAA’s 90th championship. Sand volleyball is currently an emerging sport for women, where the NCAA sanctions the sport and allows schools to use it for sport sponsorship regulations but does not sponsor an NCAA championship. In just three years, sand volleyball has met the minimum 40 programs necessary to become a championship sport. A majority of sand volleyball athletes do not play indoor volleyball, another sign of the sport’s quick growth.
The first NCAA sand volleyball championship would be held in the spring of 2016. It would be a national collegiate championship, with participants from all three divisions. A sand volleyball committee would be established immediately after the proposal is approved to organize the championship and select the first participants next year.