Winter Beach Academy
- December through mid-April
- Mondays & Wednesdays or Tuesdays & Thursdays
- Ages 8 to 18 yrs old
- All Levels Welcome- from Beginner to Advance
- BOYS & GIRLS
- Seeding Day Sunday, November 13
- Ages 10 to 14 from 9am to 10:30am
- Ages 15 to 18 from 11am to 1pm
DaKine Regional Warriors
DaKine Beach Volleyball Academy is available to players of all levels and skills. There are no “cuts” for players who want to play on our regional squad; but rather a seeding day, by age group, will be held to evaluate and assess each players current skill set, to place them in a training group of similar age and skilled athletes. These training groups are open to boys and girls, ages 8-18 years old.
Regional Warriors will practice twice times a week. To accommodate demand, we have moved practices to 90 minutes to allow for more training sessions. Then in late April, we’ll have another seeding day for our summer beach program.
All practices will begin with a dynamic warm up, followed by 30 minutes of ball control and technique training. The following 30 minutes are focused on strategic drills, using game like situations. The remainder of practices will be structured queen of the court scrimmaging, followed by cardio & strength training.
Our practices are designed to feed and fuel the complete athlete, lending from the Hawaiian tradition of the Lokahi Triangle. Lokahi means unity & agreement, and the triangle refers to achieving harmony- mentally, physically & spiritually. We’ll be including mental training exercises to encourage focus and help with visualization. DaKine athletes are leaders- they never follow; we’ve set the standard in hand setting on the beach, across the nation, and we intend to lead our athletes to success, both off and on the sand. Practice plans will be customized and developed by Club Director Chris Hannemann.
Competing is an important part in developing your skills and game strategies. We encourage our Warriors to scrimmage and compete as often as they can, with as many different partners as they can; this helps give context to practice drills and goal setting. In addition to the Queen of the Beach events that will be hosted at DaKine in University Place, we will be hosting several AVP America juniors tournaments in late winter & early spring on the sand courts at DaKine. If you are not sure what tournaments might be appropriate for your athlete’s skill level and experience, feel free to reach out and discuss the available options with DaKine Coaches & Staff.

FAQ & Additional Season Details
Beach Volleyball is the fastest growing sport in NCAA history; the opportunities to play beach volleyball collegiately are increasing every day!
Training in the sand can improve an athlete’s vertical and speed. Couple that with our strength & conditioning training, athletes will be more than ready for the summer competition season.
No Bench in Beach! Two athletes, playing every point of a tournament; competent in every skill- not just a position specialist.
Most athletes find individual skill progression & development to be more rapid when training on the sand, due to the significant increase of reps per drill.
Players that do not make the elite travel training squads will automatically be placed in one of the regional training groups. Our goal at seeding is to assess the skill set they have today, and place them into a training group of like-skilled players of similar age. Within each group they will be divided into groups on different courts by age and ability. Please note that initial placements are not permanent, players that work hard will earn the opportunity to move into a stronger, more challenging training group.
Shaka is our beginner training group with players having two or less years of volleyball (indoor and or beach) play experience. Many have participated in past summer camps or our Lil Diggers programs and are now looking for more consistent training. This training group is perfect for first time beach players or first time volleyball players.
Ohana is our intermediate training group, with players having on average two years of indoor experience and maybe some beach experience, but usually they are new to the beach game. Players in this group are familiar with all the volleyball skills, but are still inconsistent with execution. For many players the strategies of beach volleyball is new.
Surf is our more advanced training group, with most players having three to four years of indoor playing experience, and at least two years of beach volleyball experience. Players are familiar with all volleyball skills, and are more proficient in execution and are building on beach strategies. Many players from this training group will progress on to one of the Club Elite training squads within a year or two.
Some tips on what to pack for practices:
- Layers: the weather can change quickly, so wearing layers is ideal. Jacket or sweatshirt, sweatpants, shorts.
- Water: at least two water bottles on Alki, at DaKine you can use our refill station on water breaks. Please remember that hydration starts well before practice, what you consume at practice is to maintain a healthy balance to what you sweat out. Be sure to be drinking lots of water all day long
- Sunscreen: for the best sun protection, the first application of sunscreen should be done at home and the second should be applied at the beginning of practice. Always have sunscreen in your bag.
- Sunglasses: you can sunburn your eyes, so let’s keep them protected. We suggest avoiding sunglasses that have nose pieces, as occasionally players do get hit in the face, and that can leave bad cuts when the nose pieces dig in.
- Sandsocks: burning the bottom of your feet is incredibly painful, and players that are newer to sand, will appreciate the extra protection as they get used to moving and playing in the sand. (Sandsocks are available for purchase at DaKine for $20)
- Snacks: Fuel like an athlete!!! Please make sure your athletes have breakfast or a snack before practice; and players should always have a little snack packed to get them through practice. Fruit makes a for a great quick pick me up to get them to the end of practice.
DaKine uses a communication platform called Team Snap to connect players, parents and coaches. Parent’s will receive an invitation to join the team snap after placements are made following tryouts & seeding. We’ll use the email address that was used to register your athlete for tryouts/seeding to invite families to the platform. *Parent’s can then add athlete contact information and any other family member they want to have access to team communication (you do not have to ask DaKine coaches or staff to add this information).
We also use Team Snap to track attendance for staffing purposes and the building of practice plans so please keep your attendance availability up to date; we understand things come up last minute and we have found this is the best way to keep an accurate count of players. With that said, if you already know of scheduling conflicts (family vacations, school events, etc) please look ahead and note future absences.
Registration is now open for DaKine Tournaments.
DaKine does not require any tournament participation and there is no required tournament attendance or schedule. We encourage the athletes to participate in local tournaments for the experience and reps, as competing is a great way to evaluate your progress and identify areas of improvement; in addition to increasing general volleyball strategy understanding.
DaKine will host junior’s tournaments at DaKine Sports Center in University Place year round, and on Alki Beach throughout the summer. These are great opportunities to compete and become familiar with how tournaments are run and structured. Again, attendance is not required, but encouraged.
Partners
DaKine Coaches do not assign partners for tournaments, with the exception of the BVCA Challenges & Championships. We will create lots of options for the athletes to scrimmage and work together in practices to identify who they play well with. We don’t suggest partnering with one other player for every tournament; it is incredibly valuable to improving and developing their game to play with a variety of partners.
Beach Coaching From Beach Professionals!
Come learn from our proven coaching staff on a National level. In 2021, Dakine Volleyball Club placed 3rd in the Nation in the BVCA Club Challenge National Championships and 4th in the Nation overall as a club in the AAU Beach Volleyball National Championships! DaKine is currently ranked #2 in the Nation on the BVCA Club Challenge Series, the gold standard in juniors beach competitions. We strive always to provide the absolute best coaching for our athletes and to provide them with the athletic and mental tools to be successful on the sand.