Columbus East’s Alex Duncan, from left, hits the ball past Columbus North’s Isaac Riddle and Isaac Proffitt during a boys volleyball game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
The Columbus North and Columbus East boys volleyball teams squared off in the Orange Pit on Tuesday night, but it was more than just a match. It was about having fun and putting on a show for the fans that were in attendance.
Even though both the Bull Dogs and Olympians are club sports for now, the sport is likely to be sanctioned soon due to increase of popularity among the schools in the state.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association recently made boys volleyball an “emerging” sport, along with girls wrestling. In a vote that took place May 1, the board of directors approved by a unanimously vote to reduce the necessary schools participating in an “emerging sport” from 150 to 100 before those sports would become officially sponsored and a state tournament would be implemented. It’s been the biggest stepping stone for the sport, and that participation number set by the IHSAA has dropped over the past decade.
Sarah Boldrey, who is in her fourth-year as North coach, has seen how much boys volleyball has grown. She played in high school for the Bull Dogs and graduated in 2015. She said she gets around 25 boys each year coming out for volleyball. Some of the players that come out for the team also play another sport, with many of them coming from the state runner-up boys soccer team.
Two notable alumni from North are playing Division-I college men’s volleyball. Lwazi Mkhwanazi at Xavier, and Kurt Nusterer is at Hawaii, which made it to the NCAA championship game last weekend before falling to UCLA.
“I remember it was hard to get games. I remember when even (former coach) Shannon Burch first started, we would come help out at practices, and it was hard,” Boldrey recalled. “There were no teams, but it’s awesome it has gotten this far, and so many people are taking it seriously. It grows so much more each year.”
This year, 93 schools are competing as “emerging” teams. Unfortunately for North and East, they are not among those whose schools call them “emerging,” which means they aren’t eligible to play in the postseason. Since they are still a club team, most of the expenses come out of pocket. A lot of the expenses come from travel, dues, jerseys and paying the officials.
Most of the money coming into the Olympian program comes from the dues and the admission fees. For North, they try to cut the costs for the players down by doing several fundraisers.
“I try to cut the costs down, but the kids still have to pay out of pocket. I think that deters a lot of kids, as well,” said Boldrey, “not being able to afford it or don’t want to ask their parents, so it makes it hard. We try to do fundraising. That way, we can support the kids. We don’t want money to be an issue.”
With other sports going on that are IHSAA-sanctioned, it’s been tough for the Bull Dogs to find some gym time. They’ve practiced at the new HAVOC facility on the city’s east side. They have not had any home matches.
East on the other hand has been more flexible about giving the team gym time. First-year coach Josh Duncan mentioned that athletics director Pete Huse gave him a list of dates that the gym is available at the beginning of the season.
“Even though, we’re a club sport, we got to use the gym and have practices, so it’s not like the school didn’t do anything by any stretch. They were very accommodating to a club team,” Duncan said.
It’s more of a matter “when” instead of “if” the IHSAA does sanction the sport. Both coaches are hopeful that will help grow the sport a lot more and bring it more attention publicly.
“I’m optimistic that next year it’ll be a varsity sport. I think it will take off,” Duncan said.
“It needs to be a city-wide thing. I don’t know if we need to get the parents, the school board or something involved to try to make it known that we’re serious about it, and it’s not just something we’re out here tossing around,” Boldrey added. “These boys do take it very seriously. We had two guys go play at D-I schools. I’ve got players that want to continue to play, and it’s hard if they can’t play further in the tournament.”
