Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji could be on the way to a new job at the University of Hawai'i.

Sand volleyball coach?

"Might be," Shoji acknowledged yesterday.

With the NCAA opening the way this week for sand volleyball to become a women's Division I intercollegiate sport in 2010-11, it would be hard to think of a place where the game would better be suited. Really, among 1,064 NCAA member schools, where could the sport find a more natural home than right here at a university near you?

"Sand" volleyball is basically the beach volleyball played on the pro tour and given added popularity by the gold medal success of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor in the last two Olympiads. The NCAA, however, apparently prefers the designation "sand" so as not to slight its beach-challenged members in locales such as Nebraska and the Dakotas.

Until a few weeks ago Shoji will tell you he hadn't mustered that much enthusiasm for the concept under either name despite having played and coached the sandy version.

But in getting eight UH players, including All-America outside hitter Kanani Danielson, ready for the recent Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship in Riverside, Calif., Shoji said he came to see the light. And much more.

There he saw, for example, the players' enthusiasm for it and how the sand game has helped them improve their overall talents and stay in shape in the "off" season. He saw how playing the sand game has possibilities for the future.

He has, no doubt, also noticed that NCAA Tournament perennials Nebraska and Texas, along with the Southeastern Conference schools, have already dived into it.

If it helps get recruits to Hawai'i — and how many other places can promise the breadth of beaches to train on and an ocean to dive into year round — why not? If it helps move the school toward gender equity by providing more opportunities for under-represented women, sure.

Sand volleyball is not without its challenges and questions, of course. UH would need to come up with places to play and train though it could double-up on coaches and scholarships. And, there is the question of whether it would take away fans from the men's indoor game in the spring.

But, on balance, there is much to recommend it. Especially here in Hawai'i where, for once, the NCAA might have actually done UH a favor.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.