Beach Volleyball

Beneath the late September sun, over a hundred student athletes came out to Stanford’s Beach Volleyball stadium to compete in this year’s first Farm Games event. Clad in Pit-Viper sunglasses and gathered amidst the palm trees lining the courts, one could easily believe that the beach had been brought onto campus.

Representing Stanford’s student Neighborhoods, eight teams competed in the weekend’s tournament: Sequoia, Aspen, Rowan, Ginkgo, Olive, Redwood, and Magnolia. While the majority of Sunday’s games were focused on competing within the tournament, Saturday allowed the competing athletes to acquaint themselves with each other. Many of the participants reflected that they hadn’t met many of their fellow athletes before playing beach volleyball with them. Beyond bonding with fellow teammates, the Farm Games athletes had the support and coaching from many members of Stanford’s own Beach Volleyball team. One participant remarked that: “Farm games represents a great way to get connected to the athletes … bridging the gap between athletes and students.” 

Compared to last year’s beach volleyball event, it’s apparent that the 2024-25 Farm Games are off to a promising start. Student participation has doubled, with 128 players entering the sandy courts this year. Crowd retention is up as well, with eliminated teams sticking around until the tournament’s end to cheer on their friends (and to heckle their competitors). Many teams, like Redwood, encouraged peers and friends to come watch their games. 

This year, team Rowan won the beach volleyball tournament, beating out team Redwood for the championship title. The Rowan Neighborhood is the newest of the bunch, hailing from the Greek life row of Stanford’s campus. Many athletes on team Rowan were part of 2023-24’s team Wisteria, last year’s Farm Game champions. Could this be an auspicious start to another win for these students? 

With another Farm Games event starting soon on October 12th, our Neighborhood teams will once again bring their all to the track for track and field weekend. Not just in competition— though that is a crucial aspect— but also through their passion for what the games mean outside of these weekend tournaments. Farm Games helps to foster a community for these Neighborhoods, and brings together students who, despite living very close to one another, may never have a reason to cross paths. It also provides a fun and stress-free way for students to experience and participate in many sports that they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to compete in, or the interest to try out. To put it simply, as one of the participants phrases it, “[Farm Games is] super unique, and you can’t really get that anywhere else."

Written by: Lauren Hodgson