SPORTS
Volley Village Former professional beach volleyball player Gina Kirstein shares her love of the sport at Wilmington Beach Academy, her new training facility in Leland. BY ANNESOPHIA RICHARDS
PHOTO BY MEGAN DEITZ
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Gina Kirstein believes that in the world of beach volleyball, it takes a village to help athletes reach their goals. As the founder of Wilmington Beach Academy at Volley Village, the former Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) competitor offers private lessons and group classes at her new training facility in Leland. Kirstein’s mission is to use her expertise and deep love of the game to make beach volleyball more accessible to the Brunswick County community. Kirstein grew up playing indoor volleyball in her high
school in Southern California before moving on to play for both the University of Illinois and Colorado Christian University. It was in Colorado where she first gave beach volleyball a try in the late 1990s, but initially she wasn’t a fan of the dissimilar version of her favorite sport. “I didn’t like it when I first started because it’s such a different game, and that frustrated me,” she says. “But I was determined to be good at it, so I just kept on playing and ended up playing professionally.” Spring 2021
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