Men's swimming is not one of the sports sponsored by CUSA for competition. I don't know what that would mean for a potential Rice men's team. I also don't know how often CUSA adds/drops sports or how many of the 2013-14 CUSA member schools have men's swim teams.

Of the twenty sports within CUSA, the nine men's sports are baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track and field.

The up and coming sport: beach volleyball. And has been suggested by others, I could see adding men's and women's rugby. Lacrosse strikes me as more likely to be a women's only add, although there may be more interest that I realize on the men's side (certainly was enough to have a men's team at Duke!). And I sympathize and identify with ex-owl more than most might think - I was one of those year round AAU swimmers until I turned 15. Ok, it was the end of the 14th year growth spurt that did me in (I added about RUOwl's height and Hambone's weight that year and instead of being a big LB/swimmer, I was suddenly OL/DL!). And I can assure you that there are world class swimmers and divers in the Houston area on both the men's and women's side. Swimming is a no-brainer if Title IX wasn't involved!

Good point Owlbert about CUSA.

Doc, The old pool area has been suggested (by insiders) for "indoor" beach volleyball. As it is only a two person sport, though I realize there can be numerous teams, It doesn't start at the top of my list... but I am certainly open to being convinced based on proximity of competition etc. because there is more that I don't know than know on the subject. I'd be concerned that it doubles or conflicts with team volleyball for women, though perhaps that isn't an issue and is instead an advantage? Can you be a scholarship volleyball player and walk onto the beach volleyball team or vice versa? Would that violate NCAA scholarship rules?

The NCAA calls it "sand volleyball" to be inclusive of the landlocked schools. There are a minimum of TEN (10) players (5 two player teams) on a team and they play is much like tennis with the #1 matched v. #1, etc. See BASIC rules .

There are a total of 6 scholarships that can be given for sand volleyball. However, you can be a volleyball player on scholarship and a walk-on for sand volleyball ala scholarship football players walking on for baseball.

(06-28-2013 01:57 PM)RiceDoc Wrote:  The NCAA calls it "sand volleyball" to be inclusive of the landlocked schools. There are a minimum of TEN (10) players (5 two player teams) on a team and they play is much like tennis with the #1 matched v. #1, etc. See BASIC rules .

There are a total of 6 scholarships that can be given for sand volleyball. However, you can be a volleyball player on scholarship and a walk-on for sand volleyball ala scholarship football players walking on for baseball.

Then I like it because we may be able to piggy back the two increasing the quality for both. I realize we could also go cheap with the 2:1, but that isn't the goal. I like cheap when it means we can be successful without great cost. I don't like cheap when it sacrifices quality.

(06-28-2013 02:37 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 01:57 PM)RiceDoc Wrote:  The NCAA calls it "sand volleyball" to be inclusive of the landlocked schools. There are a minimum of TEN (10) players (5 two player teams) on a team and they play is much like tennis with the #1 matched v. #1, etc. See BASIC rules .

There are a total of 6 scholarships that can be given for sand volleyball. However, you can be a volleyball player on scholarship and a walk-on for sand volleyball ala scholarship football players walking on for baseball.

Then I like it because we may be able to piggy back the two increasing the quality for both. I realize we could also go cheap with the 2:1, but that isn't the goal. I like cheap when it means we can be successful without great cost. I don't like cheap when it sacrifices quality.

That's why I went there too. Frugal =/= cheap. Besides, it is a very new sport to the NCAA and there is not a ton of competition for it just yet. Rice would instantly have a top 20 team. Texas would probably like to have a team to play within the state too - maybe even the same conference! Lots of hooks to the idea!

(06-28-2013 01:57 PM)RiceDoc Wrote:  The NCAA calls it "sand volleyball" to be inclusive of the landlocked schools. There are a minimum of TEN (10) players (5 two player teams) on a team and they play is much like tennis with the #1 matched v. #1, etc. See BASIC rules .

According to the rules:
1. To do it right (as "recommended"), you need three adjacent sand courts, per Rule 1.2.6 That's cool.

2. THRILL and others may find Rule 5.1.1.c disappointing.

(06-28-2013 03:47 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  According to the rules:
1. To do it right (as "recommended"), you need three adjacent sand courts, per Rule 1.2.6 That's cool.

2. THRILL and others may find Rule 5.1.1.c disappointing.

1) do you think they'd allow 3 outdoor courts and a single indoor "championship" (or bad weather) court? That would be cool

2) I don't even have to look to know what this is about. It may not be Brasil, but even the indoor uniforms are, shall we say, attention grabbing?

(06-28-2013 05:24 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 03:47 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  According to the rules:
1. To do it right (as "recommended"), you need three adjacent sand courts, per Rule 1.2.6 That's cool.

1) do you think they'd allow 3 outdoor courts and a single indoor "championship" (or bad weather) court? That would be cool

One cool thing about the rules is that they express a clear intention to play outdoors if at all possible. I like that.

Quote:Inclement weather. Collegiate sand volleyball is an outdoor sport. Matches shall be played outdoors unless weather or court conditions threaten the health and safety of student-athletes. In the event of inclement weather, a team match shall be conducted indoors provided a regulation sand volleyball court(s) is available.

If only the NFL (or at least the stupid Texans) would be so wise!


ETA: We (but mostly me) sure are over-using the word "cool".

(06-28-2013 07:53 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Ex Owl - With two young year-round swimmers, I don't think it's dying at all. In Texas at least, it's as viable a youth sport as soccer, baseball, football and basketball. Softball I guess is another popular one out here, but that never got my girls' interest for whatever reason the one year we tried it.

In terms of swimming, we go to meets and I'm astonished how many kids are swimming. Usually the girls races have a few more kids than the boys but not by a ton. Apart from the year round programs, our summer leagues have 600 kids just in my one community (which is maybe 12-15,000 people?) We're truly missing the boat by not re-establishing our men's program. We may not get the ready for Olympic swimmers (like a 16 year old from Sugar Land named Simone Manuel who used to swim for our year round program who just finished 3rd in the USA Championships in the 50 Free), but we will continue to get really good swimmers who can dominate our conference and challenge for all-America spots in the NCAA meets.

My point was that Title IX quotas unfairly skew collegiate participation in popular sports. Unless it is football, an athlete has a much more difficult time finding a spot on a collegiate team if male.

On a more positive note, a Rice (Master's Swimming) athlete set a world record in Austin competing against both the competition and father time.

Rice Swimmer sets World Record

(06-28-2013 06:26 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 05:24 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 03:47 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  According to the rules:
1. To do it right (as "recommended"), you need three adjacent sand courts, per Rule 1.2.6 That's cool.

1) do you think they'd allow 3 outdoor courts and a single indoor "championship" (or bad weather) court? That would be cool

One cool thing about the rules is that they express a clear intention to play outdoors if at all possible. I like that.

Quote:Inclement weather. Collegiate sand volleyball is an outdoor sport. Matches shall be played outdoors unless weather or court conditions threaten the health and safety of student-athletes. In the event of inclement weather, a team match shall be conducted indoors provided a regulation sand volleyball court(s) is available.

If only the NFL (or at least the stupid Texans) would be so wise!


ETA: We (but mostly me) sure are over-using the word "cool".

Reviving an old thread, Olympics are almost here!!!!!!

Three CUSA schools already sponsor "sand" volleyball and Rio will only enhance the sports' visibility.

http://www.theccsa.com/information/about

And, Rice increased the number of Olympic sports offered!!!! Of course the South Main brain trust didn't have to spend an extra dime (Golf 2016 and Baseball 2020) (really doing it on the cheap!)

https://www.rio2016.com/en/golf

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-s...-1.2657325

Low hanging fruit, Rice adding Olympic sports (women's) Golf, (women's) Softball (Tokyo 2020) and (men's) Swimming. Not to mention the thread's earlier discussion regarding Fencing, Rugby, (men's soccer) Football, and (coed rifle) Shooting.

Simone Biles is not a Rice athlete but I wonder what the connection is? I know she lives and trains in Houston but I think her gym is up in Spring? This photo is from last October and her tweet says Go Rice Owls.

(07-12-2016 07:12 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Simone Biles is not a Rice athlete but I wonder what the connection is? I know she lives and trains in Houston but I think her gym is up in Spring? This photo is from last October and her tweet says Go Rice Owls.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/int...story.html

And Gymnastics (men's and women's) would be a fantastic additions to Rice's sports offerings.

Reviving an old thread, Olympics are almost here!!!!!!

Three CUSA schools already sponsor "sand" volleyball and Rio will only enhance the sports' visibility.

http://www.theccsa.com/information/about

And, Rice increased the number of Olympic sports offered!!!! Of course the South Main brain trust didn't have to spend an extra dime (Golf 2016 and Baseball 2020) (really doing it on the cheap!)

https://www.rio2016.com/en/golf

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-s...-1.2657325

Low hanging fruit, Rice adding Olympic sports (women's) Golf, (women's) Softball (Tokyo 2020) and (men's) Swimming. Not to mention the thread's earlier discussion regarding Fencing, Rugby, (men's soccer) Football, and (coed rifle) Shooting.
[/quote]
Add gymnastics (men's and women's see previous post) to the list of Olympic sports that Rice and the city could support.

http://www.riceowls.com/sports/w-volley/...16aaa.html

We may not have a sand volleyball team but we have a sand volleyball Olympian competing in Rio.