Chaparral’s Emily Podschweit became the first collegiate beach volleyball recruit in state history when she committed to Florida International University this week.
“I am so beside myself,” said Podschweit, a 5-foot-7 libero for Chaparral’s state championship indoor team.
Though she is a standout player in the indoor game — Podschweit was an All-Colorado pick after averaging 13.8 digs per match — she focused her recruitment only on schools with beach volleyball programs.
“I didn’t want to play indoor anymore,” Podschweit said. “So when a really good (Division I) college asked me to come and visit for indoor, I said no. I just let all those schools go.”
The NCAA will begin sanctioning beach doubles this year with 17 schools participating in the initial season.
“It was so stressful, especially because I didn’t know if I was going to just strictly be able to play beach because it’s such a new sport,” Podschweit said of recruiting. “It was really relieving just to have everything I wanted come together.”
She was put in touch with Florida International coach Rita Buck-Crockett by Dave Carstenson, a USA Volleyball beach coach who coached Podschweit in Russia for a tour of clinics during the summer of 2010.
Podschweit visited the Miami-area campus last weekend.
She said the diversity there was “kind of a culture shock at first.”
