Sand and the court; that’s what Four Man Sand was all about. Four Man Sand was a competition/fundraiser held by the volleyball team where four guys are coached by one of the girls on the volleyball team to compete in a beach volleyball tournament.

     “I was really looking forward to all of the competition,” junior Chris Puchala said. “I’m a really competitive person.”

     All teams were required to have a team name, and sometimes teams even make t-shirts.

    “Our team name was Swag & Flow,” junior Megan Heaton said. “The guys all called me coach and for the most part listened to what I had to say.”

     “My team consisted of Derek Sheldon, Lance Lanier, Travis Collins, myself, and our coach was Aubrey Davis,” Puchala said. “Our team name was Fresh to Death and we tie-dyed t-shirts that have FTD on the front and all of our names on the back.”

     There were some guys that have played in the tournament before.

     “Not all of them had played before, however I think that the teams that had played together before had the advantage,” Puchala said. “I participated my sophomore year, and we did okay, but not as good as I’d hoped.”

     The guys had the option of practicing together to improve their competitiveness.

     “I played two to three times a week,” Puchala said. “My friends and I just went up to Russell Creek Park and play against random people that were there.”

     On the other hand, every team had one huge competition against at least one other team.

     “The Abusement Park was going to be our biggest competition going into it,” Puchala said. “They are all our friends so we know how each other play.”

     The actual event was held May 21, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. at Russell Creek Park.

     “It went really well, it was really well organized,” Puchala said. “My team did fairly well, we made it to the quarter finals of the winner’s bracket, and we only lost one game, which happened to be the Abusement Park, like I thought, and they ended up winning the entire tournament.”

     Heaton agreed that the competition was fun and entertaining.

     “We didn’t do as well as the others, but we all had fun,” Heaton said. “My favorite thing was that I got to watch some really good sand volleyball.”