Under pressure, privilege doesn’t matter.

Pier Pressure is a nonprofit founded by two sisters, Naya and Kyra, who were born in London. Our parents are South Bay natives, and we attend the same schools they did. After 20 years abroad, our family returned home in 2022. Back on the sand, training daily at the legendary 16th Street in Hermosa, we weren’t just falling back in love with the game. We were seeing it clearly for the first time.

The name came naturally. Born from the time we spent between the piers of Manhattan and Hermosa Beach, it blends our own journey with the universal feeling of “peer pressure,” something that exists in every corner of a young athlete’s life: social, academic, financial and athletic. In the South Bay, it runs deep.

Since returning and immersing ourselves in the beach volleyball community, we’ve witnessed something that troubled us: a growing epidemic of entitlement among younger athletes, and a quiet but real loss of love for the game — from the juniors all the way up to the pros.

Our mission is to help young athletes do more than survive the pressures of their world. We want them to thrive under them, by building mental resilience, fostering genuine community, and creating empowerment that extends far beyond the sand.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we are restoring beach volleyball culture in the South Bay, not just the sport itself, but the spirit behind it.