Not many college students can say that they live on the beach, so why doesn’t UCSB have a sand volleyball team?
After five years as an “emerging” sport, sand volleyball officially became a championship NCAA Division 1 category for women in October 2014, and it’s become the fastest-growing NCAA sport, with 50 schools currently sponsoring it. The top teams are USC, University of Hawai‘i, Florida International, Pepperdine, and Florida State, and the first national championship will be in 2016.
Many would like to see UCSB there, including Kathy Gregory, who coached the Gaucho indoor team for 38 years and is known as the “queen of the beach” for pioneering sand volleyball. "UCSB should have sand volleyball because of the tradition and culture of Santa Barbara with so many legends of the game as well as the most beautiful beaches that attract so many people to play this fabulous sport," she said.