Why Wake schools is blocking efforts to start boys’ high school volleyball teams
Efforts to expand high school boys’ volleyball have hit a roadblock in the Wake County school system.
Wake County is balking at adding boys’ volleyball as an officially sanctioned sport comparable to girls’ volleyball. But supporters of boys’ volleyball aren’t giving up because Wake County’s support would speed up efforts to get the sport sanctioned at the state level.
“Wake County is known for being one the most progressive and forward-moving counties,” Rohit Kumar, a junior at Green Level High School in Cary, said in an interview with The News & Observer. “By taking this plunge they will be part of the leading counties.”
On short notice, Kumar lined up 19 speakers, including 17 students, to speak on behalf of boys’ volleyball at the school board’s December meeting. Kumar set up an Instagram account, instagram.com/wakecounty.vb.association, to rally support for the sport.
“At this time, we are not actively pursuing the addition of boys’ volleyball or any other new sports as system-supported programs,” Deran Coe, Wake County’s director of athletics, said in an email. “While we appreciate the enthusiasm and advocacy for this sport, the decision is based on the need to prioritize sustainability and resources for our existing athletic programs.”
Women’s high school flag football was the last new sport added by Wake. There are efforts to get that sport sanctioned at the state level..
Offer to fund boys’ volleyball in Wake
Over the past five years, boys’ high school volleyball continues to be the fastest-growing team sport by percentage in the country, according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Since 2005, boys’ volleyball has nearly doubled in participation nationally to reach 85,255 high school students last school year.
In North Carolina, it’s grown from seven high school club teams in 2022 to 68 this year, according to the North Carolina Boys Volleyball Association (NCBVA). The group is trying to reach 110 public high school teams to get boys’ volleyball sanctioned by the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
Sarah Conklin, the director of NCBVA, said they hope to hit the 110-team mark in spring 2025. They’d need to stay at or above the 110 school mark, which is 25% of the NCHSAA membership, for two years to be eligible for sanctioning.
The NCBVA, with financial support from the Carolina Region of USA Volleyball, offered to fund boys’ volleyball teams in Wake County high schools. Wake is North Carolina’s largest school district but only has two high schools that support boys’ volleyball teams
“If Wake County all of a sudden adopted it, we’d be done and across the finish line,” Conklin said in an interview. “It’s not just about the numbers. It’s about the opportunity for these young men to be part of a team.”
Wake turns down funding offer
Conklin said the offer would have paid for uniforms and referees with the NCBVA handling the scheduling of games. She said it wouldn’t require schools to provide much more in the way of resources since they can just raise the volleyball nets used by the girls’ teams.
Boys’ volleyball is played in the spring so it won’t conflict with girls’ volleyball, which is played in the fall.
“Why would the schools not take this offer when it seems so easy to accept?” Mark Dixon, the parent of a Wake boys’ volleyball player, asked the school board.
But Coe, Wake’s athletic director, said it’s not so simple to start a new sports program in the district.
“Expanding sports offerings requires careful consideration of long-term impacts on facilities, staffing, and funding, all of which must be sustainable,” Coe said. “Any system-wide adoption would require assurances of sustained resources and alignment with the district’s broader strategic goals.”
Coe said the district doesn’t have the funding to start a large-scale boys’ volleyball program. It’s being left up to individual high school athletic directors how to respond to the NCBVA offer.
But Coe said any individual school efforts to start a boys’ volleyball club would be a school-level initiative without support or endorsement from the school system.
Providing male students with opportunities
Millbrook and Enloe high schools in Raleigh are the only district schools that support their boys’ volleyball clubs.
Collin Medina, the men’s volleyball coach at Millbrook, said the NCBVA’s grant and advice simplified the process for starting a club. Medina said volleyball is providing opportunities for many male students who don’t play on the school’s athletic teams.
“There’s so much interest out there,” Medina said in an interview. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are very much interested in starting the sport because it gives them an opportunity to be a part of their school.”
Medina is expecting boys’ volleyball to explode even more in popularity if it becomes a sanctioned sport.
“It’s been amazing to see how many counties aside from Wake are promoting the sport and are allowing it at their schools,” Medina said. “If the NCHSAA sanctions it, it’s going to be a catalyst for schools.”
Kumar, the Wake student, says it’s better for the district to offer boys’ volleyball now with the NCBVA funding than have to rush to start teams after the sport is sanctioned by the state.
Students lobby for boys’ volleyball
Students at six Wake County high schools participate in unaffiliated club teams that are not officially supported by their schools. They can’t be counted for NCHSAA purposes so they’re not eligible to compete in the NCBVA’s state championship.
Several students told the Wake school board how much playing boys’ volleyball has helped them.
“It would give students like me the opportunity to develop into well-rounded individuals equipped with life skills that serve us through school and beyond,” said Anish Baskar, a freshman at Green Level High.
Hari Balan, a sophomore at Green Level High, told the school board that high school is his only chance to compete in volleyball in a meaningful way
“Volleyball deserves to be treated as seriously as other sports,” Balan said. “Sanctioning volleyball would send a powerful message that every sport and every athlete. no matter how tall or how short, is valued and supported in our district.”
Apaarpreet Bajaj. a junior at Panther Creek High School in Cary, framed it as an equity issue. He said competitive private club teams can cost thousands of dollars to join
“A school-based program would make volleyball more accessible, giving more students the chance to try the sport without the financial and logistical challenges of joining a club.,” Bajaj told the board.
School board chair Chris Heagarty told the students that he personally supports offering boys’ volleyball. But Heagarty said the district has to work through logistical issues such as whether the girls’ volleyball coach is available to coach the boys and whether athletic trainers would be available when there are other sports going on.
“I don’t bring these up to say these are reasons not to pursue it,” Heagarty said. “Just that these are obstacles so when we try to figure out how we pursue it, we can identify the challenges and come up with a good strategy for overcoming it.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Why Wake schools is blocking efforts to start boys’ high school volleyball teams."
