What are the age divisions for 2010?
Starting in 2010, the age divisions will be the same and indoor, but beach only uses 18U, 16U, 14U, 12U.
Do I need to find my own partner?
You do not need a partner to tryout and you do not need a partner for practices. We practice in small groups. The 692 coaches will do their best to match you with a good partner for tournaments, but in the end it is your choice and your responsibility to find a partner for yourself.
How long is the beach season?
Our beach season this year runs from May 9th - July 23rd. Indoor Club Regionals is on May 3rd and girls cant really turn their attention to beach until their indoor season is over. The season ends on July 23rd because most high school programs begin their team camps in late July.
When do practices begin?
Our practice schedule begins right after tryouts. School has not ended by May 10th, so we practice on Sunday afternoons until school ends, then go to our regular practice schedule in June, or as soon as the first girls begin to get out of school.
Why are the practices during the day?
Our practices are scheduled during the day because we very strongly feel that training in the heat is an important part of the game. The tournaments on the weekends can sometimes run 8-10 hours long and in the middle of the summer it is very difficult to make it through a tournament that long if you haven't been acclimated to the heat the way our girls have.
What do the players wear?
Juniors beach players wear anything from bathing suits to shorts and a tshirt. 692 requires all of our players to wear our top during competitions, but they can wear anything they want to practice and on Friday Night Tournaments. Beginning in 2010, we had to prohibit "string bikini" tops, which means any top with a string at the bottom. Strings in the back or behind the neck are fine, just not a string at the bottom... anything else is fine.
Where are the tournaments and how often do they have them?
Different organizations host events throughout the summer. 692 hosts the Dallas stop of the USA beach Tour and we will host two other weekend events this summer. We will also be hosting a series of Friday Night Tournaments at Yucatan throughout the summer. That means that all of the local 2009 tournaments were in Coppell.
There is a tournament offered every weekend during the beach season, which runs from May 10 until July 23rd.
Is beach as intense as indoor volleyball?
Yes! We train the girls at 692 in the same way that we train professional players and in the same way that our coaches have trained over the years. When you are at a tournament, it is up to you how seriously you want to take it, but most of our players are pretty serious about the sport.
Do you have practice if it's raining or has been raining hard?
Yes! Since our players pay for the entire season and the season is so short, we don't want to miss any practices. We have found that we can still get something accomplished even if it is raining. We just ignore the rain and practice anyway. Last summer we did not have a single day of rain during one of our practices, but the year before it rained for five weeks straight at the beginning of the season and we were out there twice a week practicing and training. It was actually kind of fun.
If you have any questions that were not answered by this FAQ, please email your question to info@692beach.com and I will post the question and answer up here. I'm sure that someone else has the same question and I would like to make this as comprehensive as possible.