FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25, 2025

Ohio Valley Region Launches Initiative with Beach Prospects to Enhance Access to College Beach Volleyball Opportunities

COLUMBUS, OH.  The Ohio Valley Region (OVR) is teaming up with Beach Prospects to deliver Region members discounted access to a new digital platform for discovering opportunities to play beach volleyball in college.  Beach Prospects is the leading provider of college beach volleyball educational insights.  The initiative will include educating families on making informed college decisions and creating a scholarship fund to support OVR  youth with college aspirations.

Beach volleyball increasingly is becoming a pathway to a college education.  The number of college beach volleyball players has increased nearly 80% since the NCAA officially sanctioned the sport in 2016.  Today, 133 four-year colleges and universities sponsor women’s beach volleyball, providing more than 2,000 opportunities for student athletes to compete in the sport while earning a college degree.  The men’s game is also gaining momentum.  With the promise of college opportunity, junior players are coming to the game in record numbers.  More juniors compete in beach volleyball now than at any other time in history.  Many of those young players are setting their sights on playing at the next level.

“Youth and families are coming to beach volleyball in record numbers, often motivated by the allure of college opportunities.  But educational resources that reliably identify and describe those opportunities are virtually non-existent.  “We have a responsibility, therefore, not just to sell families participation but to educate them on how to identify potential collegiate opportunities and how to meaningfully compare them to find the right fit,” said Wayne Holly, Founder of Beach Prospects.  “The promise of opportunity is illusory if not accompanied by meaningful access to the information needed to discover and evaluate it,” said Wayne Holly.

This collaboration brings Beach Prospects’ industry leading educational tools to the Ohio Valley Region’s (OVR’s) extensive membership within the largest of USA Volleyball’s 40 regional volleyball associations.  The OVR includes the states of Ohio and West Virginia and seven bordering counties of Western Pennsylvania.

Since its origin more than 80 years ago, the OVR has played a vital role in promoting volleyball participation, development, and excellence while serving a broad and diverse membership base.  Among the OVR’s key objectives is to develop initiatives that promote the growth and development of volleyball players.  As participation meets opportunity in the Region this initiative will provide families with the educational tools they need to identify and compare their options in college beach volleyball while making more informed decisions to compete.

The Initiative

This initiative provides OVR members with access to Beach Prospects’ college beach educational platform  – College Beach Navigator – at a substantially discounted rate.  Members may use the platform to identify opportunities in college beach volleyball across all three divisions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).  The platform delivers extensive insights into the academics, team performance, rosters, finances, travel trends and selection patterns for each college and team.  The initiative also creates an annual scholarship to be awarded to qualified recipient(s) pursuing beach volleyball in college.

ABOUT THE OHIO VALLEY REGION

The Ohio Valley Region (OVR), Inc. is the largest of the 40 regional volleyball associations (RVAs) of USA Volleyball (USAV). The OVR’s primary purpose as an amateur athletic sports association is to promote and establish quality volleyball through participation by adults and juniors, according to the standards set forth by USAV and the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. Geographically, the Ohio Valley Region includes the states of Ohio and West Virginia and the following bordering counties of Western Pennsylvania (Beaver, Crawford, Erie, Green, Lawrence, Mercer, and Washington).

For more information on the Ohio Valley Region, visit https://ovr.org/

ABOUT BEACH PROSPECTS

Beach Prospects is the industry leader in providing educational insights and strategic advice on college beach volleyball opportunities.  Its mission is to empower beach volleyball athletes and families to make informed choices through the college search process.  Beach Prospects advisory delivers strategic advice, insights and consulting to private clients while the company’s digital platform, College Beach Navigator, delivers data based insights and education on college beach volleyball programs directly to users online.

For more information on Beach Prospects, visit https://beachprospects.com/

For more information on the College Beach Navigator, visit https://collegebeachnavigator.com/

Inquiries may be directed to Wayne Holly, 561-251-3646 | [email protected]

Contact