That feeling of warm sand between your toes, the sun on your face, and the sound of a huge crowd cheering you on? This isn’t spring break, this is Boys Beach Volleyball!
This 2025 Fall season is the sport’s first year as an officially AIA-sanctioned sport. Some Arizona schools are building a brand new program this year, but Chandler was able to get a head start, practicing and playing as an emerging sport in the 2024-2025 school year. Although unofficial, our boys came out strong last year, learning the ropes and finding connection.
Many of the guys, like seniors Daivon Walton and Jacob Mayer, have years of indoor volleyball experience with school and even club teams. Spectators and players should beware, however: it’s not quite apples to apples. Unlike indoor volleyball, beach volleyball is set up in a totally different way from the usual six player lineup with “outsides”, setters, and “middles”, instead having “bigs” and “smalls”, otherwise known as blockers and defenders. Many say that beach takes a much more “personal” twist on the game, featuring six two-player teams making up a varsity squad. Gameplay follows a similar format with a few changes, with each game being played best 2 of 3 sets and each set having 21 points.
Chandler High School’s Boys Beach Volleyball program is lucky to have three coaches with tons of experience, coming from some of the top boys volleyball clubs in the state, including Head Coach Bobby Robson, a history teacher here at CHS. Coach Robson has 12 years of experience coaching both boys and girls volleyball.
The coaches aren’t the only ones with years of experience, though. The Varsity Beach team features seniors and juniors who also play on some of the top club teams in the state. Austin Raines and Kai Nguyen are a prime example of a returning junior pair that have experience with a national club team. Austin works hard on the court as a “small”—a player that focuses on defense (rather than a “big”, who focuses on hitting and blocking). This year, Austin hopes to score wins against some of his club teammates that play on rival school Hamilton’s Beach Volleyball team.
Looking ahead on the season, Jacob Mayer and Micah Knipmeyer will be leading the team as the first-ranked pair, bringing to the sand court some of the most competitive volleyball there is to be found in Arizona.
Their teammate, Daivon Walton, senior, feels good about their competitiveness this year: “I think we should take everyone as a rival and try to beat everyone.”
