Beach Volleyball Celebrates 10-Year Program Anniversary
2/22/2024 1:25:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
Cal Poly Athletics
Entering their spring season, the Mustangs celebrate 10 years of the beach volleyball program at Cal Poly. From a small startup to becoming powerhouses of the sport and winning championships, the Mustangs have come a long way.
The Cal Poly Beach Volleyball program started as a dream in 2013, around the time collegiate beach volleyball began to grow in popularity. While a risky decision to start up a completely new program at Cal Poly, the Beach Volleyball program has proved to be a risk worth taking.
"We were taking a risk for sure," Cal Poly Athletics Director Don Oberhelman said. "And I think most of our peers felt the same way. We all kind of did this a little bit together. Within a year or two of us, [six other schools] are all doing the same thing. Next thing you know, we have Big West Conference."
When the program was first beginning, beach volleyball was nowhere near as popular or as competitive as it is today. Beach volleyball was so new that Cal Poly did not have a separate roster- the same team that played indoor volleyball began to play on the sand, as well.
Because Cal Poly did not have a beach volleyball court for the first few years the program was started, the Mustangs would practice at courts in Pismo Beach three or four days a week. In 2019, however, the idea for the Swanson Beach Complex was born.
"We built one of the best facilities in the country with the Swanson Beach Complex," Oberhelman said. "It's just been awesome to see, and to have the Swanson Beach Complex be kind of the first thing that we do. It's pretty cool, game changing."
With the sand courts finally being completed in 2020, Cal Poly added five brand new NCAA regulation sand courts. The completion of the complex was seen as a win not only by the team but by the entire Cal Poly Athletics Department.
Two years after the program had started, the Mustangs gained a new head coach- Todd Rogers. Rogers has a Hall of Fame background in professional beach volleyball and coaching beach volleyball. With him on the team the Mustangs had higher hopes for the following season.
"I missed the first two seasons," Rogers said. "They were 1-14 and 1-13 respectively. And then the year that I was involved… I think we were 10-11. So win-wise we started moving up pretty quickly."
The Mustangs became a force to reckon with on the courts extremely quickly with the help of their new coach. Not only did Rogers teach the team new techniques, but he gave them a new outlook on the competitiveness of beach volleyball.
"I said to them, you guys have said to me you want to be the best," Rogers said. "So this is what we have to do to be the best… So it was changing wins and losses but it was changing the mentality. So it was changing from, 'Oh, let's go on and have some fun,' to 'No, we're going out to win.'"
The Mustangs have taken home several big wins since Rogers joined the team. They have competed in the Big West Championship multiple times and taken home three championship titles for Cal Poly. In 2020 the team was ranked 5th in the nation, validating the hard work that has been put into developing the program.
According to both Rogers and Oberhelman the most memorable success was the team's win over Stanford in the NCAA tournament, marking the first in program history.
"Best moment from an on-court perspective, I'd say without question when we got to Stanford," Rogers said. "It's pretty special, you know, it's just a really unique feeling there. Obviously winning anything is important, it was just the atmosphere there."
Both Rogers and Oberhelman have big dreams for the future of the beach volleyball program. While the team's goals are obviously to continue progressing and winning, Oberhelman also has plans to continue supporting the team's goals academically. The women's beach volleyball team currently has the highest GPA of any team at Cal Poly with a team average of 3.5.
"I would like to continue to work on additional resources for that program," Oberhelman said. "One of the things I would like to do is provide greater access to those academic resources for our coach, to reward the student-athletes for their academic excellence."
The Mustangs are set to enter their spring season against Tarleton State on Friday, Feb. 23rd in Louisiana. The team and coaches are hopeful for another successful season leading up to both the Big West Championship in April and the NCAA Championship in May.
