May 30, 2007
Phillips starts a Sunshine movement
Beach ambassador making it as a coach
By Walter Villa / Special to AVP.com
Leave it to a Canadian from frigid London, Ontario, to lead a beach volleyball revolution in Florida. Cindy Phillips, 33, didn't start playing beach volleyball until she was 25.
She has since played a couple of AVP qualifiers, but her biggest impact may come as a coach. On May 1, she started Club Beach Dig, a volleyball program that is unique in Florida. "In California, there are beach volleyball programs on every corner," Phillips said. "But nobody else in Florida is coaching the beach game full-time." What Phillips has started is no doubt important to the AVP Tour, which has two stops in Florida — Miami to open the season and Tampa this week. Phillips already has three programs in South Florida: Indian Hammocks Park in Miami, Deerfield Beach (near Fort Lauderdale) and Singer Island in Palm Beach County. She also hopes to start more programs on the state's West Coast next year, including in Clearwater and Fort Myers. So far, the response has been great.
"We already have over 100 members, girls and guys," Phillips said. "I am excited about how fast it has caught on. I wish I had something like this when I was growing up."
Phillips was an all-around athlete in Canada. She played some volleyball in high school, but she was a basketball player at the University of Toronto. After college, she went back to her hometown and played softball in the summers and hockey in the winters before stumbling on to an indoor beach volleyball facility.
She fell in love with the game and eventually came to Florida to try to make it as a pro. A couple of years ago, she was working as a bartender and playing volleyball whenever possible.
"One day, a friend asked me if I would coach her two teen-aged daughters," Phillips said. "Within three months, I had quit bartending and waitressing. The private lessons had caught on."
Those lessons led to the creation of Club Beach Dig, where she works with kids between the ages of 10 and 18.
"Most of them join to keep playing volleyball after the high school and club programs are over for the year," Phillips said. "They do it to help them improve when they get back to playing indoor volleyball, but some of the kids are falling in love with the beach game."
Phillips said attitudes are changing. She no longer runs into many coaches who feel that the beach game would hinder a youngster's growth in indoor volleyball."
"That's a myth," Phillips said. "The truth is that there is no better way for a player to improve his or her indoor skills than by playing the beach game. Everything on the sand is harder, so a player improves in terms of speed, agility and vertical leap. Their fundamentals improve, too, because there are less players in the beach game (two a side instead of six) and therefore more touches are available."
Phillips, the club's director, said she has nine experienced coaches working with the kids, including former AVP player Eric Wurts. The registration fee to join is $100. The monthly (May 1 through July 31) cost is $225, which includes hotels and fees for five tournaments. The club practices twice a week, and the fee includes court rentals, insurance, coaching, equipment, club shirts and bags.
The two-hour practice sessions for boys are Mondays and Wednesdays. The girls practice Tuesdays and Thursdays. The locations are Lummus Park in Miami, the beach in Deerfield and Palm Beach Atlantic University.
And after playing May 6 at Delray Beach, the remaining tournaments are this Sunday at Siesta Key; June 17 in Clearwater; July 15 in Fort Lauderdale and July 29 at Fort Myers, which is the junior championship.
The age groups are 13-and-under, 15-and-under and 18-and-under. Two-person teams will play together for the entire season, at the coach's discretion. Practices will be held in groups of 10 athletes per coach. And there will be a minimum of 2 coaches at each tournament.
For more information, call 954-695-8878 or go to beachdig.com.
