As summer approaches, the warm weather creates more opportunities to spend time outdoors.

Lauren Beery, sophomore, and Chelsea Williams, junior, both plan to stay active this summer whether it is playing beach volleyball on the sand or snorkeling in the ocean.

Beach Volleyball
While some prefer to play volleyball inside a gym, others prefer sand under their feet and the sun shining on their faces while they play.

Chelsea Williams, junior, has played volleyball her whole life but when she was 10 years old, she tried beach volleyball, allowing her to practice her skills during her “off season” in the summer.

“I mainly play indoor volleyball. That’s what I do year round, but in the summer, when my indoor season isn’t going on, is when I like to play [beach volleyball] instead,” Williams said.

In early June, Williams switches from playing inside a facility to playing in the open air. However, playing beach volleyball requires a different set of rules and skills compared to indoor volleyball.

“You have to have more strategy with beach volleyball because there are two people instead of six and beach volleyball takes a lot of endurance because playing in the sand gets really tiring, so you have to pace yourself out,” Williams said.

The work is worth it though according to Williams. She takes advantage of being out of school to travel with her friend, who she plays beach volleyball with, to different places in the U.S. where they compete in beach volleyball tournaments.

“My friend asked me to team up with her to go compete in some beach volleyball tournaments this summer for fun,” Williams said. “We are just hoping to go to California or Florida so we can play on some beaches near the ocean.”

According to Williams, she has played beach volleyball tournaments in Chicago but “it’s nice to travel to beaches where the weather is warm when it’s too cold in Chicago.” Williams plays most of her tournaments in Hermosa Beach, CA.

“In every one of these places, the beach volleyball community is very nice and close knit. The players are friendly and always willing to be your partner for an event, even if you didn’t know them ahead of time,” Williams said.

Snorkeling
Since 2015, Lauren Beery, sophomore, has been taking trips with her family to go snorkeling.

“We usually go on vacation about four times every summer,” Beery said. “When we can, we usually go snorkeling while we’re there. My favorite place we traveled to is The Great Barrier Reef.”

According to Beery, she has taken a liking to travel because of the many sights she is able to see.

“I like that everywhere has its own special element and everywhere has something that makes it different from the last,” Beery said.

While visiting the Great Barrier Reef, Beery said how unique it was compared to the other places she has traveled to because she was able to see a lot of fish and a turtle. For Beery, her favorite part of snorkeling is being able to take in all of the colors of the coral and marine life in the ocean.

“Just looking around when you’re swimming and seeing all of the different colors of the coral and fish is very peaceful to me,” Beery said.