Seminole High beach volleyball gets new home with six campus courts

Seminole High School’s beach volleyball team finally has a permanent home again, and the upgrade is more than a cosmetic addition to the Sanford campus.

Six new courts were unveiled this week in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, replacing a multipurpose practice field and giving the program a dedicated place to train and host matches at 2701 Ridgewood Ave. The project came together through community partnerships and funding support, according to school officials.

For the athletes, the change ends two years without dedicated facilities. Before the campus courts were built, players sometimes had to leave school and drive to Beck Ranch, about 20 to 30 minutes away, just to practice or play. That meant more time on the road, more planning for families and coaches, and fewer opportunities to build a visible home crowd around home matches.

The new courts also give Seminole High a more stable base for a sport that relies on a very specific playing surface. Beach volleyball cannot be run the same way as indoor programs that can borrow a gym or adapt another field. Having six courts on campus means the team can now practice where it competes, with a facility designed for the sport instead of a shared space.

The school had already been planning for the court well before the ribbon cutting. A Seminole student newspaper story in February 2025 said the court was being built near the tennis courts and other sports facilities, and described it as the school’s first volleyball court. That made the new project a milestone not just for the current team, but for the program’s place in Seminole High athletics.

Coach Raphael has been one of the faces of that push, alongside school leaders and the community partners that helped finance the project. Seminole High’s athletics program now lists beach volleyball among its offerings, underscoring how the new courts turn the sport from a travel-heavy inconvenience into a visible campus fixture.

For Seminole County, the result is practical: fewer off-campus trips, cleaner scheduling and a home venue that can draw students, parents and opponents to Sanford instead of sending players elsewhere.