Beach volleyball may be the fastest growing sport in the world and the city and state officials are weighing its place in Waikiki.

The University of Hawaii made history this spring, adding a women's beach volleyball team to its program.

 Around the same time Hawaii's governor was looking at how to mine the potential of the sport to save an iconic Waikiki structure-- fill in the natatorium pool for a sand volleyball stadium.               

"I think sand volley ball is a great idea if we can do it, so let’s see if we can do it," said Gov. Neil Abercrombie.

 But state land director William Aila told KITV that so far research has found the state owns the pool and land under the memorial arch-- but not the parking lot.

"The land with the parking lot mauka of the facade face belongs to the Kapiolani Park trust. That, of course, is going to play into our ultimate solution because it limits what we potentially can do," said Aila.

City council members sit as trustees of the trust, which means the state might have to convince them the idea of transforming the natatorium into sports venue is a good one.

Aila plans to meet with the city one more time before he lays out what’s possible on the governor's plate.

"We are finishing our due diligence so we can present a series of solutions he can decide to take," said Aila.

In the meantime, if volleyball isn’t in the natatorium's future, could a nearby city facility have volleyball in its future?