Volleyball variations of beach volleyball. As beach volleyball took volleyball outdoors, indoor sand volleyball takes beach volleyball indoors. In the United States, a growing number of colleges are now considering switching from hard court indoor volleyball to sand court indoor volleyball. The biggest reason for the possible change is the reduced rate of injury of players. Secondary reasons are: 1) bad weather doesn't cancel play, something that commonly happens with beach volleyball; 2) it is thought to make the game more appealing to spectators since sand courts do not require players to wear knee pads or shoes. Indoor sand volleyball teams vary
Beach volleyball the 2010–11 academic year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began sponsoring women's beach volleyball, which it initially called "sand volleyball", as an "emerging" sport. Initially, it was sponsored only for Division II, with Division I added the following academic year. NCAA competition follows standard beach volleyball rules, with competitions involving five doubles-teams from each participating school. Beach volleyball became a fully sanctioned NCAA championship sport in the 2015–16 school year, following votes by leaders of all three NCAA divisions to launch a single all-divisions national championship. At the end of June 2015, the NCAA dropped the name of "sand