The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Wilson volleyball star Simrin Adams recently committed to Stanford, where she will continue her decorated career on the sand, leaving indoor volleyball behind when she graduates Wilson in the 2027.
“Leading up to recruitment Stanford wasn’t at the top of my radar, but as it got closer I did a couple of camps and just fell in love,” said Adams in a recent interview. “The coaching staff are amazing, the courts are so nice, and the campus is so pretty. There were so many pros and no cons. So it became my top school, and on June 15th I got a call in the morning to let me know they were interested.”
Adams will have a unique commitment story among Long Beach athletes. After being formally offered by the school, she made her commitment during a break at the Long Beach Century Club’s annual Sports Night Banquet, where she was recognized with more than 500 athletes and fans on hand.
“I just wanted to go to Stanford so bad, it’s just perfect,” she said. “So it was so great to do it at the banquet.”
First-year Wilson volleyball coach Gersain Pineda has learned what volleyball fans in Long Beach have known for a few years: that in addition to being a special athlete, Adams is a special person and leader as well.
“She’s a leader and a voice for sure,” said Pineda. “She puts a lot of motivation towards the team, she brings that energy when it’s needed. She awakens that little monster that we have in our team…She’s a really good, dynamic player, I can place her anywhere and she’ll find a way to put the ball away. What else can I say? It’s Simrin.”
The junior has been a star for the Bruins, leading them to a league title last year on the sand with partner Sadie Calderone; the duo claimed the league pairs title and also propelled the Bruins to a CIF-SS Division 2 championship last Spring as well. Indoor, Adams has been powering Wilson as an outside hitter. An indoor club standout, she made the decision to switch to beach full time a few years ago.
“I started playing beach around four years ago, and it just became so much more fun,” she said. “There’s no drama, no stress. It’s just fun and the atmosphere is great. Indoor gave me a lot of stress and it was very tough to stay in love with it. WIth beach, you’re just…at the beach. There’s never a bad day at the beach.”
Adams was describing a type of burnout increasingly common among teen athletes as club sports have taken over the youth scene, commodifying and professionalizing what was once a fun recreational activity for kids. She was in a fortuitous position, though, as her parents supported her decision to pursue the “fun” sport over the one they’d poured their money and time into. Their decision was rewarded with Simrin’s commitment to Stanford, the kind of accomplishment that most families involved in club sports are chasing.
“My dad agreed with me right away,” she said. “He thought it was cool because it was so much fun, and even beach club is really about fun as well as competition. In club indoor it’s very demanding, it’s nonstop and there’s so many travel tournaments. It’s just the stress factor. With beach it was just more fun.”
