Much like flag football has become very popular, I thnk beach volleyball on the boys side is something that’s growing.”

Brophy Sports Information Director Steve Shaff

By Brittany Bowyer
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PHOENIX — Boys beach volleyball has finally made its way to Arizona, and Brophy is among one of the first schools to offer the program.

While girls beach volleyball has been an official AIA sport since 2018 after spending six seasons leading up to it as an emerging sport, boys beach volleyball was a bit slower to catch on. After spending one season as an emerging sport in 2024, the AIA officially added it to the list of sanctioned sports for the 2025-26 school year.

Volleyball, both indoor and beach, are among the fastest growing sports for boys. According to the National Federation of High School Coaches, boys high school volleyball participation is continuing to grow at a faster rate than any other sport. In the 2024-25 school year, the NFHS reported 95,972 total boys high school volleyball participants, up from 85,255 the previous year.

“I think you see the trends that start off at the college level and then trickle down to high school,” Brophy Sports Information Director Steve Shaff said. “Much like flag football has become very popular, I thnk beach volleyball on the boys side is something that’s growing.”

For Brophy, the decision to add the sport was easy. Student interest levels in the emerging sport were high, and Schaff said given the fact the boys indoor team has had success under Tony Oldani, it was only “natural” for them to try to field a team right away.

“We have kids on our campus who have already been playing volleyball, and a lot of those have the same interest in playing beach, or already play beach at the club level,” Shaff said. “So there was just naturally a group of kids who were interested in that.”

Also easing the process of adding the sport, Brophy’s sister school Xavier College Prep already had the facilities build for their girls team and would allow Brophy to utilize them, the SID added.

“We’re very fortunate that they already had an established beach program,” Shaff said. “They have been very generous to allow us to play since its a different season of sport in the fall. It works out great.”

Shaff believes offering beach volleyball provides another reason for prospective students to look at attending Brophy.

“We have a lot of kids that come to our school to play volleyball already, and so I think it’ll just continue to grow,” Shaff said. “It’s our goal with our athletic department to create opportunities for student athletes, and it’s just another opportunity for that.”

While other schools have the infrastructure in place already because of the girls programs, the interest just isn’t there on the boys side of things yet. A prime example is within the Scottsdale Unified School District.

In 2025, the district opened a beach volleyball facility for the girls programs to utilize, so they no longer had to rent park space for beach volleyball practices. However, despite having the facilities, there are no schools in the SUSD fielding a team this year.

Arcadia fielded a team previously, but due to low participation numbers this year, they’ve pulled the plug on the program. All of Arcadia’s scheduled matches have been cancelled, per the Arizona Interscholastic Association website, and they are no longer listed as a team.

“We had a really strong group of seniors this past year that really took the reins as juniors to grow,” Arcadia Athletic Director Drew Ammon said. “Nearly our entire team was made up of seniors, so we didn’t have a ton of underclassmen come out for it.”

Ammon said he also wasn’t sure if they’d have the finances available to supplement the program this year, which was something concerning to him as an AD.

Meanwhile at Cactus Shadows, the only high school in the Cave Creek Unified School District, Athletic Director Rob Gilmore said boys beach volleyball is a sport they’re interested in potentially adding in the future.

“We hope one day we can add beach volleyball,” Gilmore said in a text message. “In fact, in the spring, we will be looking at a feasibility study, including conducting an interest meeting on campus with our studednts about the sport.”

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.