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Post by stevehorn on Jan 10, 2024 10:32:19 GMT -5
Spring 2023 was the first beach season. IIRC it wasn't announced until the summer of 2022. They decided to start in spring 2023 with the indoor players comprising the beach team similar to Nebraska, but then move to a standalone beach team (with beach only players) in 2024. Further evidence that a beach team can be setup quickly Texas did have an advantage in that outdoor beach courts were already available on campus. I'm assuming they will eventually build new courts for just the beach team that would have the facilities to host a tournament. Also to be clear, it appears it will be 3 years before Texas will have a full beach team. As I said, last year was played with indoor players only. This year the team has 10 players currently which is the minimum you need for a match (five teams of 2). They have yet to post a spring schedule nor has there been an announcement of a conference for beach (neither the Big 12 or SEC has beach). So I don't know if they will play a full schedule this year or another abbreviated schedule like last year. The 2025 team will be the first one to have beach only high school recruits and I assume a full roster (15-20 players based on looking at the rosters of established programs). |
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Post by eyeroll2021 on Jan 10, 2024 10:37:54 GMT -5
Spring 2023 was the first beach season. IIRC it wasn't announced until the summer of 2022. They decided to start in spring 2023 with the indoor players comprising the beach team similar to Nebraska, but then move to a standalone beach team (with beach only players) in 2024. Further evidence that a beach team can be setup quickly Lol totally untrue. It was announced in Fall 2022 and became active in Spring 2023, but a lot of work happens before the announcement - internal athletics department negotiation, budgeting and logistics planning. JE mentioned in a Point Texas meeting that it was "years in the making" |
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Post by PeoriaBucky on Jan 10, 2024 10:49:58 GMT -5
I just don't see having Orzol playing front row as conducive to a title for Wisconsin. Two things I'm confused about with Batenhorst's portal announcement that I'm too lazy to search: 1. I thought the portal closed for this first round on Jan 1? 2. Did I read that she wants to play beach? Does WI even have a beach team? - Batenhorst is entering the portal as a grad transfer; grad transfers can enter outside of the one-time undergrad 'window'. - Yes, she has said she wants to play beach as well as indoor. No, Wisconsin doesn't have a beach team. - The one and only national title that Wisconsin has won was won with Orzol playing front row. They've also won two B1G titles with Orzol playing front row. With all due respect, saying that the one and only title Wisconsin won was with Orzol playing front row is, IMHO, a tad misleading. It's certainly true, but it's also true that the national title-winning Badgers had Sydney Hilley setting and Dana Rettke making some, shall we say, significant contributions (not to mention Lauren Barnes in the back row), and none of those players are present anymore. It's not like Wisconsin won a championship because Orzol was playing front row. |
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Post by chibadgerfan on Jan 10, 2024 11:25:41 GMT -5
Further evidence that a beach team can be setup quickly Lol totally untrue. It was announced in Fall 2022 and became active in Spring 2023, but a lot of work happens before the announcement - internal athletics department negotiation, budgeting and logistics planning. JE mentioned in a Point Texas meeting that it was "years in the making" I wrote that it was evidence, not that it was proof. I appreciate a lot of administration goes into setting up a new team. But who knows - maybe Wisconsin has also been working on a beach team in the background for a long while. It stands to reason that they’ve at least considered it. |
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Post by katn on Jan 10, 2024 11:36:28 GMT -5
Spring 2023 was the first beach season. IIRC it wasn't announced until the summer of 2022. They decided to start in spring 2023 with the indoor players comprising the beach team similar to Nebraska, but then move to a standalone beach team (with beach only players) in 2024. Further evidence that a beach team can be setup quickly you guys would need an indoor sand facility due to the weather which is more costly too |
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Post by robtearle on Jan 10, 2024 11:37:00 GMT -5
Lol totally untrue. It was announced in Fall 2022 and became active in Spring 2023, but a lot of work happens before the announcement - internal athletics department negotiation, budgeting and logistics planning. JE mentioned in a Point Texas meeting that it was "years in the making" I wrote that it was evidence, not that it was proof. I appreciate a lot of administration goes into setting up a new team. But who knows - maybe Wisconsin has also been working on a beach team in the background for a long while. It stands to reason that they’ve at least considered it. Texas wouldn't necessarily need an indoor practice facility. Wisconsin clearly would. That would be a LARGE expense that I very much doubt the Athletic Dept is ready to take on. |
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Post by badgerbreath on Jan 10, 2024 11:37:25 GMT -5
- Batenhorst is entering the portal as a grad transfer; grad transfers can enter outside of the one-time undergrad 'window'. - Yes, she has said she wants to play beach as well as indoor. No, Wisconsin doesn't have a beach team. - The one and only national title that Wisconsin has won was won with Orzol playing front row. They've also won two B1G titles with Orzol playing front row. With all due respect, saying that the one and only title Wisconsin won was with Orzol playing front row is, IMHO, a tad misleading. It's certainly true, but it's also true that the national title-winning Badgers had Sydney Hilley setting and Dana Rettke making some, shall we say, significant contributions (not to mention Lauren Barnes in the back row), and none of those players are present anymore. It's not like Wisconsin won a championship because Orzol was playing front row. I think it's pretty comparable actually. Smrek, Robinson, Orzol all played in that match. Instead of Loberg, we now have a NPOY at the other OH, and she takes a lot more swings than Dana did and scores a lot more. I think Feuerbringer is more advanced than Hilley at the same stage in her career (not at Hilley's level in 2021 though). Booth doesn't get fed as much as Dana because the badgers have Franklin and they often don't pass well enough, but she hits at a very similar percentage to Dana's last year. I expect the badgers will use her even more the coming year. Booth is a better blocker I think. It's the backrow of Barnes and (one legged) Civita that we haven't replaced. GG is comparable on the D side, and is cut above in OOS setting (though Civita was pretty good), but that's it. That's the argument for Orzol at L if no one else can step up. We also don't really have a BR attack because we often have to pass two with Franklin and she gets put on the floor too much in SR. I have a sneaking suspicion that Shumacher may take over the L shirt if no OH transfers in. GG and Damrow as DSs. Sheff tries Devyn or even Shadd-Ceres in the Demps role IF he can stabilize the passing. |
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Post by chibadgerfan on Jan 10, 2024 11:55:35 GMT -5
I wrote that it was evidence, not that it was proof. I appreciate a lot of administration goes into setting up a new team. But who knows - maybe Wisconsin has also been working on a beach team in the background for a long while. It stands to reason that they’ve at least considered it. Texas wouldn't necessarily need an indoor practice facility. Wisconsin clearly would. That would be a LARGE expense that I very much doubt the Athletic Dept is ready to take on. Yes definitely costly. So is the indoor team using a private jet to travel to away games. If there’s a will there’s a way. |
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Post by robtearle on Jan 10, 2024 11:59:41 GMT -5
Texas wouldn't necessarily need an indoor practice facility. Wisconsin clearly would. That would be a LARGE expense that I very much doubt the Athletic Dept is ready to take on. Yes definitely costly. So is the indoor team using a private jet to travel to away games. If there’s a will there’s a way. The indoor team generates a good deal of revenue. They may even be 'break even'. A beach team, besides needing a practice facility, would need to travel a great deal; 'home' matches would pretty much be non-existent. Large costs, essentially zero revenue. Sounds great! |
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Post by volleyball90 on Jan 10, 2024 12:17:19 GMT -5
- Batenhorst is entering the portal as a grad transfer; grad transfers can enter outside of the one-time undergrad 'window'. - Yes, she has said she wants to play beach as well as indoor. No, Wisconsin doesn't have a beach team. - The one and only national title that Wisconsin has won was won with Orzol playing front row. They've also won two B1G titles with Orzol playing front row. With all due respect, saying that the one and only title Wisconsin won was with Orzol playing front row is, IMHO, a tad misleading. It's certainly true, but it's also true that the national title-winning Badgers had Sydney Hilley setting and Dana Rettke making some, shall we say, significant contributions (not to mention Lauren Barnes in the back row), and none of those players are present anymore. It's not like Wisconsin won a championship because Orzol was playing front row. We did win a title because Orzol was playing 6 rotations though. Her passing stats in the title game were outstanding. But also it shows that Wisconsin (or any team) doesn't need 2 excellent OOS outsides to win a title. The Wisconsin title team won with subpar OH play in general. Next year's 5-1 version with Orzol at OH means Orzol is our weakest hitter. Having Orzol as your weakest hitter is not a bad thing. Having Orzol as our best passer though, is an issue. We need better passing so that we can utilize Booth/Smrek as much as possible. No other team has that combo of size and hitting efficiency at MB/OPP. I've been a GG supporter in general, but she doesn't have it. I did like what I saw from Damrow, but health is a major concern. I want to see 50% of the sets going to Booth/Dev/Smrek. Also, our title win and texas is proof that an effective backrow attack is very important. Demps was huge vs nebraska. MJ and Izzy never really had great backrow attack chemistry with any hitter. Hoping Charlie can add that to our game. Could be an opportunity for TSC to make an immediate impact as a sub for Smrek. |
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Post by 25or624 on Jan 10, 2024 12:34:32 GMT -5
Yes definitely costly. So is the indoor team using a private jet to travel to away games. If there’s a will there’s a way. The indoor team generates a good deal of revenue. They may even be 'break even'. A beach team, besides needing a practice facility, would need to travel a great deal; 'home' matches would pretty much be non-existent. Large costs, essentially zero revenue. Sounds great! As far as we know, The Badgers are NIL-challenged as they battle to attract some of the very best players. Telling these players that "We fly commercial to all matches so we can afford a beach team" seems counter-productive if winning championships is the goal. |
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Post by buckypete on Jan 10, 2024 13:06:05 GMT -5
Texas wouldn't necessarily need an indoor practice facility. Wisconsin clearly would. That would be a LARGE expense that I very much doubt the Athletic Dept is ready to take on. Yes definitely costly. So is the indoor team using a private jet to travel to away games. If there’s a will there’s a way. Correct. Except there's no will. So there's no way. Wisconsin is not adding beach volleyball. The argument about even adding back baseball has been a non-starter for decades. |
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Post by chibadgerfan on Jan 10, 2024 13:15:25 GMT -5
Yes definitely costly. So is the indoor team using a private jet to travel to away games. If there’s a will there’s a way. Correct. Except there's no will. So there's no way. Wisconsin is not adding beach volleyball. The argument about even adding back baseball has been a non-starter for decades. I appreciate the historical perspective. What’s changed recently is the higher enrollment of women, which drives increasing scholarships for women relative to men, which drives the need to add women’s teams or cut men’s teams. The answer might not be adding women’s beach volleyball, but something will need to change. |
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Post by buckypete on Jan 10, 2024 13:20:20 GMT -5
Correct. Except there's no will. So there's no way. Wisconsin is not adding beach volleyball. The argument about even adding back baseball has been a non-starter for decades. I appreciate the historical perspective. What’s changed recently is the higher enrollment of women, which drives increasing scholarships for exclusively women, which drives the need to add women’s teams or cut men’s teams. The answer might not be adding women’s beach volleyball, but something will need to change. Something very well may, but if Wisconsin is adding a women's sport it's going to be gymnastics (which has 10 Big Ten schools and would not necessitate new facilities) or field hockey (ditto) and not a beach volleyball program. |
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jan 10, 2024 13:23:43 GMT -5
Correct. Except there's no will. So there's no way. Wisconsin is not adding beach volleyball. The argument about even adding back baseball has been a non-starter for decades. I appreciate the historical perspective. What’s changed recently is the higher enrollment of women, which drives increasing scholarships for women relative to men, which drives the need to add women’s teams or cut men’s teams. The answer might not be adding women’s beach volleyball, but something will need to change. If we need more women's teams, I see it way more likely that we would add Field Hockey and/or Women's Lacrosse, both of which are already established in the Big Ten conference, and both of which can be played on a soccer field (just with different field lines painted). |
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