Indoor volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan. It combined elements of basketball, baseball, tennis and handball to create a game he originally called mintonette. Modelled after its indoor sibling, beach volleyball is believed to been first played on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii in the 1910s.

And it didn’t take long for the sport’s popularity to grow.

1910-20

Needing just three key elements to play – sand, a ball and a net – beach volleyball spread quickly along the coast of California and into the mainland.

During World War I, United States soldiers took the game across the Atlantic Ocean to the beaches of Europe, and by 1918, beach volleyball had reached China and Japan. It also spread into South America and the Caribbean as it gained worldwide appeal.

While it started in Hawaii, beach volleyball found its home in Santa Monica, California, where courts were constructed on the beach as early as 1920. The coastal city minutes west of Los Angeles is where Paul “Pablo” Johnson created 2-on-2 beach volleyball, a result of his impatience after waiting for people to show up for a 6-on-6 match and decided to play with four. The sport also saw other variations, including 4-on-4 and 3-on-3, emerge in the decade that followed as Americans used beach volleyball as an escape from the Great Depression.

The sport became more popular in the 1990 thanks to television and the Olympics, and in 1994, the 27-event AVP circuit was televised by NBC and offered more than $4 million in total prize money. A beach volleyball demonstration in Almeria, Spain, that coincided with the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona hosted more than 100 players from five continents, proving the sport had major international appeal. A year later, beach volleyball became an Olympic sport.

For Collier, 1990 marked the beginning of a decorated coaching career. She spent a year working with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who would become beach volleyball’s two most notable figures. In 1996, Collier brought the U.S. team of Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno to a fifth-place finish in the Atlanta Olympic games and led Americans Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson to the same result in Sydney in 2000.

The 1990s and 2000s are considered the golden era of beach volleyball – in terms of popularity and money -- due to the emergence of the AVP and the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics. In 2002, McPeak became the first woman to earn more than $1 million dollars in career prize money after winning her 62nd beach volleyball tournament title. In 2014, Walsh and May-Treanor each earned more than $2 million dollars.

While professional and Olympic play propelled beach volleyball to new heights in its existence, its most recent achievement - becoming an NCAA Division I sport - is the most significant chapter in its history, Collier said.

“I believe becoming a Division I NCAA sport is a bigger milestone (than the Olympics),” Collier said. “Olympics is somewhat elitist – simply because only four people get to play. In the next four years, there will be around 60 schools competing with several athletes (in the NCAA).”

In May, Collier coached top-ranked USC to the first NCAA Division I Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama. While she enjoys success as a college coach, Collier is elated with the effect being in the NCAA is having on youth volleyball.

“There is definitely a lot of interest, especially on the club level,” she said. “People are creating tournaments on their own. You’ll see places with 15 courts that are full all the time – and (the players are) good. You have to see it to believe it.”

And Collier should know, since all it took was one look for her to be hooked on beach volleyball.