TAMPA, Fla. — When Raelyn White wanted to play competitive beach volleyball in high school, she looked outside the Tampa Bay area.
In St. Petersburg, most of the tournaments featured younger girls just getting into the sport. So, the Florida State senior traveled to California during the summer to get scouted by college coaches, competing with an Ohio-based club.
But on recent trips home, White has noticed more excitement surrounding beach volleyball.
“Now, when you play local tournaments, it’s a really high competition level with a lot of semi-pros or college girls that come home and play,” said White, who attended St. Petersburg Collegiate High. “The competition at each local tournament is a lot more (talented).”
White is among several area players who have benefited from the recent growth of beach volleyball.
In recent years, local institutions like Eckerd College and the University of Tampa have emerged as national powerhouses in the sport. USF launched a program, which will compete beginning in 2025-26. Several high schools added beach volleyball after the FHSAA sanctioned it in 2022. Club teams have emerged as outlets for players to compete at an elite level and get scouted by college coaches.
Why exactly has the sport gotten bigger? It’s a combination of the skill set and structure, coaches and players say.
Calvary Christian coach Kim Whitney said players have to excel at one skill, like setting or blocking, in indoor volleyball. However, in beach volleyball, players have to master all skills because there are only two people per team. This makes it a valuable cross-training tool for indoor volleyball, drawing some players to the sport in the process.
“You get to touch the ball more often, and you’re more in control of the game,” said Whitney, who played on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour.
The control extends to other aspects of the game, too. Thais Treumann, 14, said she likes being able to pick her partner and decide what tournaments she wants to go to, unlike if she played for an indoor club.
The sport is also attractive to players who might not have been recruited to play indoor volleyball.
“(Girls who are) 5-10, 5-11, great outside hitters, don’t get to go to a big program indoors,” said USF coach Pri Piantadosi-Lima, who also played on the AVP tour as well as professionally in Brazil. “They get to go to big programs on the beach. Their impact’s a lot higher.”
The rise of beach volleyball in Tampa began around 2015, when the NCAA sanctioned the sport. Prominent local clubs like Optimum Beach — founded by Piantadosi-Lima — and Bevolley Academy that emerged in the years prior suddenly took off.
High school beach volleyball arrived soon after. Several local schools, including Berkeley Prep, Calvary Christian and Bishop McLaughlin, made it to the state tournament in 2022, the first season the FHSAA sanctioned the sport.
Calvary Christian’s Whitney said the first state tournament was exciting, especially with a setting like Florida State’s facilities.
“It was good for our girls to see players really excelling in the sport,” Whitney said. “It was really competitive.”
As high school and club beach volleyball have grown, several local players have been recruited to compete in college. Optimum Beach has sent 85 alumni to college programs, while Bevolley Academy has sent more than 40.
This is a change from when FSU’s White played club beach volleyball in high school. She remembered just a handful of other players from Florida competing around the country. Since then, she’s seen more athletes from Florida head to college and even has a few teammates she can easily drive to and visit when they’re not at school.
But, despite growth locally, some still view traveling to California as an important way to be seen by college coaches and improve.
Most recruiting takes place during tournaments outside of Los Angeles in July, Berkeley Prep coach LT Treumann said. College coaches flock to the tournaments, and local schools like UCLA typically hold prospect camps in July. Treumann, who trained and played professionally in Brazil, and his daughter, Thais, planned to spend part of July in California so she could compete at tournaments there.
Beyond the college level, White said moving to California seems to be the only way to become a pro beach volleyball player. On her wish-list? USA Volleyball playing a bigger role in Florida.
“An awesome improvement would be to have a hub in Florida for USA Volleyball,” White said. “Or just more strength of clubs and players in Florida, where in order to go pro, you don’t have to move to California. You can stay in Florida and pursue that career.”
Florida doesn’t have the same ecosystem of top Division I programs like California does. But USF’s arrival in 2025-26, and Eckerd’s and UT’s strong programs bode well for the growth of the game locally.
USF’s Piantadosi-Lima has coached in the Tampa area since 2014 and is now seeing her former players become coaches. For her, it’s all about paving the way.
“I try to ask all my players and coaches, ‘We’re leaving a legacy behind. So what’s your legacy?’ ” Piantadosi-Lima said.
