In 2015, a committee from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) agreed beach volleyball should have a NCAA-sanctioned championship. At that same time in Southlake, four girls were entering high school and splitting their time between studying and sweating it out in the sand.
Now, those four – Harper Hallgren, Sutton McTavish, Abbey Sweeting and Hope Shannon – have officially signed their letters of intent to play with their future colleges this fall. Given that the sport is relatively young and isn’t a UIL sport, it’s remarkable there are four signees from Carroll’s class of 2019. But for these four girls, beach volleyball is a chance at collegiate play, and they believe that is partly why it is growing so quickly in North Texas.
“Beach has been growing a lot in these past few years, and there are a lot more opportunities for college scholarships,” Sutton says.
How They Got Started
Abbey, Harper, Hope and Sutton have a lot in common. They’re all senior Dragons, and they play for the same club: Beach Ten Thousand in Plano. From early ages, they were all indoor volleyball players.
Abbey estimates that she was about 12 to 13 years old when she began playing indoor volleyball. She played in middle school and went on to become a Lady Dragon in high school as a defensive back row player. Though she continued on with indoor, beach volleyball is what she will continue to play at California State University, Northridge. For her, beach volleyball has a level of independence that indoor does not.
“I like how coaches are a lot less involved,” she explains. “They aren’t allowed to talk to you while you’re playing, so it’s a huge mental game on your own.”
Like Abbey, Harper was a Lady Dragon indoor volleyball player all four years of high school. She was introduced to beach volleyball when her older sister, Haley Hallgren, started playing with a club team. Knowing that they would be going to all the same practices anyway, the Hallgren family signed Harper up at the age of 10. This fall, the sisters will once again play on the same team as Harper joins Haley at the University of Southern California (USC). It’s the constant action of the sport that keeps her hooked.
“You get more touches on the ball,” Harper says. “You get to do everything, and I just like being outside more than being stuck in a gym all day.”
Before high school, she played indoor volleyball in a recreation league, and she was introduced to the sport in a way that is near to our hearts.
“If it wasn’t for my mom, I wouldn’t be playing beach volleyball,” Hope says. “I started playing volleyball after seeing an ad in Southlake Style, actually. That’s how I got into rec. volleyball.”
Similar to Hope, Sutton started out playing indoor club volleyball. When her coach invited her to a beach volleyball practice, she was quickly converted. She echoes the statements of the other three when she explains why beach volleyball won her over: constant action and plenty of hits. She’ll continue in that vein at Pepperdine University.
“I just fell in love with the game because it was just a lot more fun,” she says. “You always get to play and travel places you wouldn’t go if you were playing indoor.”
Hard Work Pays Off
Two to three times per week, the four athletes clamor to beat rush hour out to Plano, where Beach Ten Thousand is located. From there, it’s two hours of practice and conditioning, rain or shine. For beach volleyball, that phrase is not taken lightly.
“Unless there is lightning, we practice through anything,” Hope says. “As long as it’s not below 32 degrees outside, we’re out there practicing.”
When you consider the change that rain can make on sand, getting soaked isn’t even the real issue. The bigger concern is that suddenly, that softer surface gets packed down and changes the game. And you wouldn’t expect it out of the stereotypically tropical sport, but these athletes have toughed out some colder competitions as well.
“These past few weeks, the weather has been terrible,” Sutton says. “We’ll play in the rain until it gets pretty bad. I’ve played in tournaments where it’s been probably around 36 degrees outside.”
Thankfully, all four girls are headed to relatively tamer climates for college. When the four signed their letters of intent November, it proved that it was all worth it. All of the hours spent driving to practice, conditioning, traveling to tournaments and staying up late to study had paid off.
“I was so excited when I signed,” Sutton says. “It felt like a big weight off of my chest.”
Even the process of getting recruited added more to each girls’ plate.
“It was like having a second job,” Abbey explains. “I would play in the tournament, and then I would send out videos to coaches who were looking at me. I had it down like clockwork. I’d play in the tournament Friday and edit the films over the weekend. And then by Monday morning, I would always email the video.”
On top of it all, Sutton lifts weights three times per week. Hope has a part-time job at Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard and is a nanny. Harper and Abbey both balance indoor and beach volleyball. These ladies work hard, and it’s paying off.
“It was really exciting and a relief to sign,” Harper says. “The obvious goal would be to win a national championship in college, but I’m just excited that I get to play and be a part of the sport at school.”
What's Next
While there are still plenty of beach volleyball tournaments left to play this summer, the four athletes are excitedly anticipating the fall. Abbey will be fulfilling her dream of playing in California as she attends Cal State Northridge. She will be the only Texan on her team and plans to major in food science or nutrition.
“I’m so excited to head to college,” she says. “Two weeks ago I went out there and I stayed with my future teammates, and I got to watch them play. They are all so positive and they were so nice. It was like being welcomed into a family.”
Sutton wants to be a dentist, so she plans on starting out pre-med at Pepperdine University.
“That would be really hard to balance with sports, so I think I’m going to start with that. But if it gets too overwhelming, I’ll switch to business,” she says.
Harper plans to major in business administration and take the pre-requisite science courses in case she wants to go to medical school. She’ll be joining her older sister at USC, but when asked if the two Hallgrens would partner up in volleyball, she laughs.
“We tend to fight when we play together, so probably not,” she says.
Hope hasn’t decided on a major but is leaning toward nutrition or physical therapy. She says she has always found the science behind food interesting and enjoys helping people. Either way, she is excited to get started at Arizona State University.
“I visited recently and loved it,” Hope says. “All of the teams are so supportive of each other.”
As these four promising athletes continue pursuing excellence at the collegiate level, they are paving the way for other Southlake beach volleyball players. The first NCAA beach volleyball championship was in 2016, so Sutton, Hope, Harper and Abbey are still laying the groundwork in the fledgling sport. Remember their names as they have their whole career ahead of them.