Beach volleyball added to Club Sports

Drew Sherwood, head coach of Liberty’s new beach volleyball teams, speaks at the news conference.

Liberty University is bringing the beach to Lynchburg, as men’s and women’s beach volleyball were announced as the school’s latest Club Sports offerings at a news conference Wednesday in the LaHaye Ice Center.

“We are very excited as we move Club Sports forward here at Liberty University,” said Kirk Handy, Director of Club Sports.

The teams will play and practice at the new Campus East Beach Volleyball Courts that opened in March.

“We already have noticed a high demand for the new courts,” Handy said.

Drew Sherwood, manager of Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, will coach the teams.

Sherwood played for Liberty’s men’s club volleyball team from 2004 to 2005. He played beach volleyball in California after learning the game from his sister, a former player on Liberty’s women’s volleyball team.

“We’re looking forward to a positive season next year, seeing what we can do for the program,” he said.

Liberty will be a member of the National Collegiate Sand Volleyball Association (NCSVA) and will compete against teams such as Long Beach State, South Carolina, Louisiana State, Florida Gulf Coast and Tennessee, among others.

An informational session was held following the announcement, with several students showing interest in the program. Tryouts will be held in August and the teams will begin to play in the spring of 2013.

This fall, there will be more than 500 student-athletes on Liberty’s 31 Club Sports teams.

• For more information about beach volleyball at Liberty, email clubsports@liberty.edu.