If everything falls into place, Mission Bay High School will have new sand volleyball courts sooner than later.
According to sand volleyball head coach Nikki Caufield, two-person sand volleyball has been a high school sport for boys and girls since 2014, with MBHS fielding a girls team starting in 2014 and a boys team starting in 2015. Two-person sand volleyball is also a NCAA sport for women and an Olympic sport for both men and women.
Caufield noted that there are currently 28 high schools that field boys sand teams in the fall and more than 30 schools that field girls teams in the spring.  “Due to the number of schools now participating court space to both practice and play at the beach has been at a premium,” Caufield stated. “A number of schools have constructed on-campus courts over the last few years, which have given them a competitive advantage to holding home games.”  Mission Bay High has been one of the schools without on-campus courts. As such, it has had to play its matches away and hold practices off campus. This has resulted in the Bucs struggling to find open courts for practice. Despite this disadvantage, the boys won a Division I championship and have been a Division I finalist. The girls won the league several times over the last four years.  As Caufield pointed out, the master plan for MBHS is for courts on campus, but there has been no funding from the district to build such facilities at the school. The master plan has the courts being located in the dirt patch between the blacktop basketball courts and the football field.  Not wanting to see the Buccaneers remain at a disadvantage compared to competitors, Caufield, with the assistance of parents and support from the parents and administration, started a fundraiser last spring. That began with the goal of raising $40,000 to build four courts on campus.  To date, with a $10,000 donation from Loanmart and a $5,000 donation from Caufield & James LLP, they have raised approximately $26,000. That figure is almost enough to pay to construct three courts.  As Caufield noted, the plan is to construct the courts over the first weekend of September. Several families that have access to heavy equipment have volunteered to help with the construction.
If another $5,000 can be raised it would guarantee that they would have enough money to build three courts. In the event they can raise $15,000 it would provide enough money to construct all four courts. 
It is hoped that they courts can not only be used by the students but also could be rented out to the local community. This would be for adult leagues and end up being a fundraiser for school athletics.  If you are interested in donating money to help fund the construction, contact Caufield at [email protected].