Tardus Beach Volleyball Scholarship

I never expected beach volleyball to change my life — I stumbled into it because one of my friends said it was fun. At the time, soccer was my main sport. I had dedicated years to it and was really considering playing at the collegiate level. But the moment I stepped onto the sand, something clicked. Within a single year, I had quit soccer entirely and was fully committed to playing beach volleyball. The community is what sets it apart from soccer: my coaches, my teammates, the regulars at my local beach. Beach volleyball has given me some of my closest friends, and when the opportunity to bring that kind of community with me to college presented itself, saying yes was easy. What made my decision even more meaningful was the adversity I had to fight through to get there. During my junior year indoor season, I took a direct hit to the face from a 6'3" UCLA beach commit, resulting in a serious concussion that kept me off the court for over five months. At that point, I had already been committed to play Division I beach volleyball at San Jose State University for nearly a year and had recently signed. Recovery wasn't a straight line, and there were real moments where I feared my volleyball career was coming to an end. Yet I pushed through that uncertainty, the setbacks, the slow progress, and the doubt that I wouldn’t be able to play again. I am now back on the sand, training harder than ever, and more excited for my freshman year at SJSU. The months away from volleyball also opened an unexpected door. Enrolled in the Entrepreneurship Academy at my high school, and suddenly, with time on my hands, my friend and I began building a startup business. A mobile app that lets users store, track, and manage their gift cards digitally. We have already started developing our MVP and working through the legal side of launching our company. I love the high-pressure, problem-solving nature of building something from nothing. I have been finding ways to start small businesses since I was young, from slime businesses to now, a full-on app. At SJSU, I plan to major in Business with a focus on Entrepreneurship. My goal after graduation is to enter the tech industry in Silicon Valley, gain real experience inside high-growth companies, and then eventually start my own. The combination of competing at the Division I level while building a business has already taught me more about discipline, time management, and resilience than anything else could. This scholarship would allow me to work fewer hours during the season and give me the space to perform at my highest level on the sand.

On paper, my journey to collegiate beach volleyball makes very little sense. I did not grow up diving in the sand or chasing sunsets with a volleyball in hand. I grew up in sequins. At seven years old, I laced up figure skates and spent the next decade chasing perfection. I competed nationally in team dance and finished one point shy of representing the United States at the World Championships. My childhood involved early mornings, rhinestones, and very cold rinks. Beach volleyball was… not the plan. Then COVID hit. Rinks closed. Ownership changed. Finances shifted. The sport that had defined me ended abruptly and painfully. So naturally, I decided to start over in one of the most competitive team sports in the country—as a sophomore in high school. Years behind everyone else. Perfect timing. I had no résumé. My coach wasn’t very encouraging about my recruiting prospects. But I persisted. I attended every camp and lesson my family could afford, studied YouTube videos, and practiced in my backyard under the hot Florida sun. Somewhere in that grind, I realized I loved being outside. I loved the wind altering the ball’s path. I loved that nothing was controlled. I also loved spending time with my dad, who ordered a stack of budget volleyballs from Amazon and spent his evenings chasing down the ones I shanked all over the backyard (and occasionally over the fence into the street). Thankfully, no cars were harmed in the process. That’s how beach volleyball quietly became the right fit. Unlike indoor, beach exposes everything. Two players. No substitutions. No hiding in rotations. If serve receive falls apart, it’s yours. If the wind shifts, you adjust. The partnership reminds me of team dance—two athletes completely accountable to one another who form deep friendships. Recruiting was not smooth. My high school had a beach team but it lacked the competitive depth I needed, so I initially accepted a Division I indoor roster spot at the University of Louisiana Monroe. After one season and a partial ACL tear that required surgery out of state, I faced another pivot. I entered the transfer portal and chose to pursue beach volleyball fully—even though it meant giving up a portion of my athletic aid. Beach is not as well funded as indoor. Scholarships are limited. Switching required sacrifice. I made it anyway and transferred to Tennessee Tech. I am majoring in Exercise Science with plans to earn my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. My ACL rehab changed the way I see sport. My own injuries introduced me to sports rehabilitation from the patient’s side. I became fascinated with how the body rebuilds itself after setbacks. My goal is to open a sports performance and rehabilitation clinic specializing in injury prevention and return-to-play programs for young athletes. I want to offer movement screenings for youth beach players, develop strength programs tailored to sand athletes, and create affordable access to injury prevention tools before small issues become season-ending injuries. I also plan to coach. Beach volleyball is expanding, but growth requires infrastructure: knowledgeable coaches, facilities, and sponsors. I want to help build that foundation. My career will allow me to serve athletes not just when they are injured, but also to share my athletic experience to expand the sport and train athletes. From skating rinks to sand courts, my path has never been straight. But rebuilding taught me something the sand reinforces every day: instability builds strength. The scenic route didn’t just make me a better athlete. It prepared me to invest in the future of the sport that gave me a second beginning.

I never imagined that I would be playing Division I beach volleyball in college, at my dream school, nonetheless. Growing up, my focus was always on indoor volleyball and working toward an athletic scholarship. I loved the team environment, the energy of a close match, and the intensity of competing together. Indoor volleyball taught me how to work within a system and trust the people around me; however, as a middle blocker, I always felt limited in how I could contribute throughout the game. When I transitioned to beach volleyball, it gave me the opportunity I was looking for to become more involved in the game. With only two players on the court, there is no specialization, and every athlete must be an all-around player. I was drawn to the opportunity to fully develop myself as a volleyball player rather than being limited by my indoor position. With the beach, there is much more individual responsibility as every decision and adjustment falls on you and your partner. There is no rotation to rely on; you have to be a complete player. That demand for versatility pushed me to grow in ways indoor volleyball never could, and it redefined how I saw myself as an athlete. Beach volleyball also exists within an exciting moment of growth. As a relatively new collegiate sport, it is continuing to expand and create more opportunities for athletes. Being part of this growth is something that motivates me, especially as someone from Hawaiʻi, where the sport originated. It is an opportunity to represent where beach volleyball began while pursuing it at a higher level. The structure of beach volleyball balances individual accountability and team success, which is a great lesson to apply to life. While each match is played in pairs, the outcome of a duel depends on the entire team. You need your teammates to succeed just as much as you need to perform, and that dynamic has taught me how to push myself individually while contributing to a larger collective goal. It is also a sport that demands constant awareness as the elements and conditions are always changing. The continuous need to adapt and problem-solve is what makes the sport so rewarding, and those are the same skills I want to carry into my life beyond athletics: staying engaged, taking ownership, and adapting quickly in unpredictable situations. The University of California, Berkeley has been my dream school because it offers exactly what I have been working toward. Cal has a nationally competitive beach volleyball program paired with one of the top-ranked public universities in the country. Competing at that level while earning a degree from an institution with that academic reputation is an opportunity that would not have been possible for me without beach volleyball. At Berkeley, I plan to major in Media Studies, earn a certificate in business, and minor in design. After graduation, I plan to pursue work that involves creative problem-solving and communication. I am especially interested in how design and media shape the way people understand and interact with the world, and I want to contribute to projects that are both meaningful and impactful. This scholarship would make a meaningful difference for my family. Because UC Berkeley does not offer merit-based scholarships for out-of-state students, the annual out-of-pocket cost is roughly $59,000, even with my partial athletic scholarship. This is a huge gap for my family, so any support brings me closer to competing at the Division 1 level and earning the education that will shape the rest of my life.

Deciding to play beach volleyball was a very late decision for me, and not one I ever expected to make. After going through an incredibly difficult recruiting process for indoor volleyball, I faced three separate failed commitments, each one falling through due to circumstances completely out of my control, including coaching changes and medical team emergencies. Every time I thought I had finally found stability, I was pushed back to the beginning, forced to start over again. It was frustrating and emotionally exhausting, constantly rebuilding hope only to have it taken away. Those experiences tested my resilience, but they also taught me how to keep moving forward even when things don’t go as planned. In late March, an unexpected opportunity came when Coach Jeff from CSU Northridge reached out to me about potentially playing beach volleyball. Growing up in Hawaiʻi, I’ve always been surrounded by the sport, but I had never truly pursued it at a competitive level. Indoor volleyball had always been my focus for the past 10 years, so stepping away from that felt like stepping into the unknown. Still, I decided to take a chance on myself and embrace a completely new path. It was not an easy decision, but it was one that required trust, courage, and a willingness to grow. Beach volleyball has challenged me in ways I never anticipated. Unlike indoor volleyball, where physical attributes can play a large role in recruitment and success, beach volleyball requires a deeper level of technical skill, strategic thinking, and mental toughness. With only two players on the court, there is nowhere to hide. Every serve, pass, set, and hit matters, and every mistake is yours to learn from. This transition has pushed me to become more adaptable, more accountable, and more confident in my abilities. It has helped me grow not only as an athlete but also as a person. At CSU Northridge, I plan to study radiology with the goal of becoming a radiologist. My passion for healthcare is deeply personal and rooted in my own life experiences. After losing my father to stage 4 colon cancer, I witnessed firsthand the impact that compassionate and dedicated healthcare professionals can have. During one of the most difficult times in my life, the doctors and nurses who cared for him provided not only medical support but also emotional strength and comfort for my family. Their ability to uplift others during moments of fear and uncertainty inspired me to pursue a career where I can do the same for others. Being from Hawaiʻi, I am also aware of the ongoing need for healthcare workers, especially those who understand the local community. My goal is to return home after completing my education and training to give back to the community that raised me. I want to be someone who makes a difference, not just through medical knowledge, but through compassion, understanding, and connection. Playing beach volleyball at CSU Northridge gives me the opportunity to continue competing at a high level while helping offset some of the cost of attending college. However, it does not cover everything. Coming from a single-income household in Hawaiʻi, where the cost of living is already high, paying for college is a significant challenge. Receiving this scholarship would make a meaningful difference in my life. It would help ease the financial burden on my mother and allow me to focus on my academic and athletic goals without constant financial stress. More than anything, it would bring me one step closer to achieving my dreams and giving back to the community that has given me so much.

Hi, my name is Rebecca Boone. Ever since I was 12 years old, I’ve been passionate about playing beach volleyball. The beach has always been a place where I feel at home, and my love for the sport has grown over the years. I am thrilled to announce that I will be attending Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, where I will have the incredible opportunity to play for their beach volleyball team. Beach volleyball is more than just a sport to me; it’s a way of life. Over the years, I have dedicated countless hours to training and improving my skills, always striving to be the best player I can be. This dedication has paid off, and I am honored to join the Eckerd College beach volleyball team. I am excited to contribute to the team and to continue growing as an athlete. While my dedication to beach volleyball is strong, my academic and professional aspirations are equally important to me. I have always been fascinated by the field of dentistry. The ability to help people maintain their oral health and improve their smiles is something that I find incredibly rewarding. My goal is to pursue a career in dentistry, with the ultimate aim of opening my own general dentistry practice across America. This ambition drives me to excel both on and off the court, as I work towards making a meaningful impact in the field of dental health. Attending Eckerd College is a significant step towards achieving my dreams. The college offers a unique combination of high-level athletics and a robust academic environment, which will provide me with the skills and experiences necessary to succeed in my future endeavors. The opportunity to play beach volleyball at a collegiate level is a dream come true, and I am eager to take on the challenges and opportunities that come with it. At the same time, I am committed to excelling in my academic studies and preparing for a successful career in dentistry. One of the things that excites me most about attending Eckerd College is the sense of community. I look forward to being part of a supportive and dynamic environment where I can grow both as an athlete and as a student. The college’s emphasis on experiential learning and community engagement aligns perfectly with my own values and goals. I am eager to participate in community service projects and to make a positive impact on the local community while pursuing my studies. In addition to the academic and athletic opportunities, I am excited about the personal growth that I will experience at Eckerd College. College is a time for exploration and self-discovery, and I am looking forward to meeting new people, trying new things, and broadening my horizons. The experiences and lessons I gain during my time at Eckerd will undoubtedly shape me into a well-rounded individual, ready to take on the challenges of the future. As I prepare to embark on this new chapter of my life, I am filled with a sense of gratitude and anticipation. I am grateful for the support of my family, friends, and coaches who have helped me reach this point. Their encouragement and belief in me have been instrumental in my journey. I am ready to embrace the challenges, to work hard, and to make the most of every moment. In conclusion, attending Eckerd College and playing for their beach volleyball team is a dream come true. It is an opportunity to pursue my passion for volleyball while also working towards my academic and professional goals in dentistry.

I fell in love with indoor volleyball and decided that I was going to play in college as a freshman in high school. At this time, I started doing all of the things to be recruited including spending thousands of dollars paying and travelling to play club volleyball. Everything changed my sophomore year when covid swept through the nation cancelling the season. It was at this point that I tried to find a beach volleyball club near me that could satisfy my need to play. I found one located 45 minutes away but was very nervous and skeptical. They had a tournament, and I signed up with my sister, just to give it a go and see what could happen. These people were instantly loving, caring, and accepting of the two stranger that walked onto their courts. After talking to the owners, I began taking privates, and it was evident that beach came much more naturally than indoor. I was always told my hands were too slow for indoor, but I never actually understood what that meant until I was playing beach volleyball. I began playing more and more, traveling all over Texas playing and meeting people. I played coed, Women's, juniors, doubles, fours, or grass. I just was addicted to the sport. In fall of 2021 I was recruited to play beach at Missouri State University, but that was when my relationship with the sport began to fall apart. The summer of my freshman year I hated it, I felt like no matter what I did, I wasn't getting better, and I wasn't having fun. My sophomore year I was diagnosed with depression, and was given pills that "would solve my problem". The summer after my sophomore year I stopped taking the pills and I focused on happiness and realized that my happiness came from playing beach volleyball back home, and I was once again in love with the sport. I met many amazing people that wanted my success and happiness, this support rebuilt my confidence and helped me become motivated again. I am deciding to transfer to UMHB, which is back home, close to my friends, family, and the club that built my foundation with beach volleyball. My fiancé and I want to have our own beach club where we host events and coach juniors to adults and create the same environment that was created for us when we first started playing the sport. We will keep this club/location until it has really succeeded and can pay for itself. At that point we will then work on different careers and keep the beach volleyball club as a hobby and a way to feel positive energy from doing something we love. He wants to be an NFL recruiter, and I want to be a Paramedic.

Why do I want to play beach volleyball in college? If I could, I would play it all day, every day! I feel incredibly blessed that I get to play the best sport in the world. Nothing beats it. However, I am from Colorado and that has its challenges. A landlocked state with 5 months of winter. Don’t get me wrong, we have warm days and can be outside, but often the snow is falling. My love for beach volleyball started in 7th grade, it was 2020. No one was playing their sport, but in the foothills of the mountains, there were 40 kids learning this crazy sport called beach volleyball. My mom took me one day to the Flourish Club and I was hooked. That summer I was there 4 days a week, 3 hours a day. Loving every second! In the winter of 2021, I decided to give up indoor volleyball and pursue beach 100%. With beach I get to use all my skills…serve, pass, set, block, and kill! It’s just my partner and me. No one subbing in. I have learned and continue to perfect the mental strategy of the game. So, I have come across many challenges. The club Flourish eventually closed, court availability is limited and finding high level training is difficult. I have found ways around these challenges by traveling for training, competing in big tournaments, partnering with girls from other states, training with women and doing semi-private lessons. I work out at 5:45am to increase my strength, endurance and vertical jump. The challenges have not stopped me from pursuing my dreams of playing beach volleyball at the Division 1 level. I am proud to share that I am committed to the University of North Alabama and will be starting there this August. I decided to play beach volleyball in college because it’s my passion. Being part of the fastest growing NCAA collegiate sport is exciting. I want to play at the highest level, be challenged, do my best, perform every skill and compete on a team. Another challenge is Colorado has one university with a beach program. It is a strong D2 program, but I want to play D1. By attending UNA I will be 1,200 miles away from home. Education is expensive itself, but the travel costs will add up. My parents have been my biggest supporters with their time and covering the expenses endured these past five years for me to pursue my dream. However, my dad retired from the steel industry and is on a fixed income. My mom, who works with older adults, was forced out of her job two years ago. She’s never made much money, but now her income is significantly lower. By applying for scholarships, I am doing my part to help cover the cost for my education. I plan to study Sports Management and have a career in sports. I love athletics! Currently I am a member of the Colorado Women’s Sport Collective. At events I meet women in the sports industry which are opening my eyes to different opportunities. I am the 2025 Ambassador for Team Speed, the gym where I work out at. Lastly, I am coaching beach volleyball to 14U girls. I am still figuring out the exact direction my career will go, whether it’s management, marketing, events or media, but ultimately, I want to coach! My goal is to help beach volleyball to continue growing and make a lasting impression on youth and young adults. Just like those who coached and helped shape me to who I am today.

I LOVE beach volleyball and in 8th grade I made a promise to myself to do whatever was needed to play in college. I became intensely focused and committed to this sport. Stepping away from indoor club volleyball to focus on beach was one of the hardest decisions of my life - but my hard work and determination paid off! Last October I committed to a D1 beach program at the University of Pacific. However, this is a very expensive institution, and like many in our under-served area of El Dorado County, we need help paying for college. Looking back at countless practices and workouts, tournaments in the LA area, and missed social events, I have no regrets and would do it all over again! Nothing in life beats the feeling of being completely locked in during competition. It's a euphoric feeling when getting an insane dig, only to pop up immediately to take a nasty swing at the ball your partner has perfectly set up. After those plays, all you seem to hear are the waves, the screaming seagulls, and cheers from your parents and partner. There is no doubt in my mind that this is where I'm meant to be! The feeling is head-and-shoulders above other sports - and surpasses anything that can happen in an indoor tournament with 100s of clubs stuffed into a room with a ceiling. Another beautiful thing about beach volleyball is that you don't have to be great to enjoy it. No matter the skill level, smiles and laughter are always surrounding a beach game, be it at a random park with low nets and no lines set up, or at the Hermosa stop of the AVP tour with Olympians battling for points (Something I was able to witness a couple summers ago, making me fall more in love with the sport!). Being on the sand is just better. Beach volleyball seems like it was always a constant for me. Something I could turn to no matter what was happening in my life. The feeling of being on a beach competing and glancing out at the ocean always puts things into perspective for me. It reminds me of how large the world truly is, how many people there are to meet, and of the life-changing experiences waiting for me. This also makes me realize we are truly small - though this realization didn't come with feelings of despair. It made me realize that after graduation I didn't want to sit and look back at my collegiate career, being never able to move forward, missing all the experiences and people that could change who I am for the better. I plan to use my grit and determination earned through my recruiting process (and while competing as a D1 athlete) to propel myself into medical school as a Naval Officer. These aspirations complement my passions and values (like working hard while being a positive force in the world). A career in the military will provide an opportunity to keep improving myself and those around me. The process of getting through medical school and becoming a certified doctor will take constant discipline - but I am up for the challenge! It is a plan that may be daunting to others, but to me it fuels me with excitement and inspiration. If chosen for the Tardus Beach Volleyball Scholarship, I will work tirelessly to honor your decision and act proudly as an ambassador on the beach for this great sport.