A stone’s throw away from Paso Robles High School, a new three court regulation beach volleyball facility will be nestled in between the softball field and the Paso Robles District office; a much needed improvement from their previous practice space at Sherwood Park.
“We were able to practice there, but it was really unsafe for the level of play that we had going on and then didn't accommodate enough players at one time,” Paso Robles Head Coach Vickie Werling explained.
Now heading into the third year of beach volleyball being a CIF-sanctioned sport, junior Priscilla Utter had never played beach volleyball heading into her freshman year of high school but now, she loves it.
“I found out my freshman year that we're going to have a beach team, so I was really interested in playing it because I've never played beach, but I thought it was going to be similar to indoor [volleyball], which it is.”
But now with two seasons under her belt her and Werling have seen firsthand at Paso Robles High School, the growing interest in competing in the sand.
“The first year I played there were not really a lot of people that played," Utter said. "Then the last year that we played, there was a lot more people. A lot of indoor girls tried it out and I really saw a growth in the wanting to play the sport.”
“We almost doubled in our tryout group size between the first year and the second year," Werling said. "Liistening to everybody talk this year, I think we're going to see that almost happen again.”
The facility won't just help the Bearcats program but hopefully it may get other North County programs to start their own beach volleyball program.
“It'll offer something on this side of the [Cuesta} grade that hopefully Templeton and Atascadero can,look into maybe adding teams.”
While the district has approved the estimated 120,000 dollar construction, it was spearheaded by community sport to raise the funds, sponsorships and support needed to give not just the Bearcats Beach program a boost but anyone looking to play and give the sport a try.
The beach volleyball facility is set to break ground on construction at the end of November with an expected completion time by the beginning of the spring beach volleyball season.
