SBCC establishes women's intercollegiate sand volleyball team
Beginning this spring semester, Santa Barbara City College will be the first college in Santa Barbara to offer sand volleyball as an official intercollegiate sport, with the establishment of a women's sand volleyball team. The season starts February 2019, with home matches being played at East Beach.
“One of the main goals of our department is to offer programs that best serve the community,” said Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino. “There has always been a strong interest in intercollegiate women’s sand volleyball among our students, so it is a natural fit as part of our department.”
Sand volleyball is the fastest growing sport in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), and SBCC will be competing in the Western State Conference, which has a total of eight teams.
"Establishing an intercollegiate sand volleyball team benefits our students and athletic department in so many ways,” said Constantino. “The Santa Barbara community has a tremendous beach volleyball tradition and we are thrilled to be the first college in Santa Barbara to offer women’s sand volleyball as an intercollegiate sport.”
Samantha Calisto has been named as the interim head coach for this season. Interested players can reach out to her for information about playing (sacalisto@pipeline.sbcc.edu). According to Constantino, "It has been a true team effort to be able to offer this program. Our indoor volleyball coaches, Jon Newton and Ed Gover have provided valuable insight, and Ellen O’Connor [Associate Athletic Director] and Kathy O’Connor [Physical Education Department Chair] have done great work to support this. I can’t thank our administration, President/Superintendent Dr. Beebe and Dr. Pamela Ralston [Executive Vice President of Educational Programs] enough for their support. The amount of work done was very detailed, and it wasn’t easy, but in the end this will benefit our students, and they are who we are here for. The SBCC Foundation was also a huge help in making this a reality for this season, and I cannot thank them enough for their support as well.”
SBCC now has 20 intercollegiate sports: 11 women's and 9 men's. A fundraising campaign will be announced soon to help get the women's sand volleyball program off the ground.
