Georgia State to add sand volleyball
A recent article by Doug Roberson in the AJC brings news of Georgia State’s intentions to add a sand volleyball team to its athletic program. With the addition of a football team in 2010, the school must add at least two new sports in order to remain Title IX. Athletic Director Cheryl Levick says that student interest, regional interest and ability to create a successful team all went into deciding on sand volleyball as the newest sport.
The NCAA recognizes sand volleyball as an “emerging sport” meaning that it is new to the scene. There are only 15 other schools with teams and no schools in the Colonial Athletic Conference, the one to which Georgia State belongs, have teams. The program is estimated to have a start-up cost of about $1.5 million, but the increased student fee used to support the football team will also be used for volleyball.
The addition of a new sport draws even more attention to Georgia State. Because sand volleyball is an emerging sport, people may become more interested over time, giving the school an advantage because not many places around provide the same opportunity. The coaches have already begun recruiting in the southeast. This gives Georgia State the chance to get their name out in more places and possibly have more appeal to some who may have never looked into the school as a choice.
The descriptions used by the author in this article detail the situation and provide answers to most of the questions one would have when presented with this information. The addition of sand volleyball is just one of many steps taken by the university to give them more prestige. Other sports being considered to join the athletic program are lacrosse, crew, and stunts and tumbling, another emerging sport. Whatever sport they choose to add will in turn have an effect on the university as a whole.
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I think it’s admirable that Georgia State is aspiring to become more appealing to students from the aspect of athletics. Although academics is the main reason we attend college, we can all admit that the prestige of the athletics program has a lot to do with how we make our decision on which college to attend, and GSU obviously realizes this. By adding a football team and volleyball team, they are undoubtedly hoping to draw in more students who are attracted to college athletics, and while it may not work immediately, I’m sure it will pay off in the future.
This is really interesting, especially after talking about Georgia State’s investment in a football team. This could be a good investment seeing how there aren’t many schools out there with teams, making Georgia State an elite school having this program. It could also be beneficial to other sports as well because the universities name might get out more if it sand volleyball grows in popularity. This is quite an interesting investment which, if handled properly, could greatly benefit Georgia State.
Georgia State made another good move in getting a sand volleyball team. Sand volleyball compliments the addition of football very well. Essentially, Georgia State established a team in an already popular sport in which it will be tough to become competitive, and they established a team in an up and coming sport in which they could become a powerhouse. The university has a chance of getting their name out there by their indentity in the success of a certain sport. If they play their cards right, they could be a force in a sport not many colleges have at the moment. It will be interesting to see how this works and what sport they will add next.
Georgia State seems to be doing all that they can to get their name out there. Over time, the addition of new sports will definitely get the job done. I think adding sand volleyball was a wise decision because just as you said, it is an emerging sport that isn’t offered at many schools in this area. I am curious to see what kind of team they put together as well as what the second sport to be added in order to maintain Title IX will be.