Boys Volleyball could soon be a new sport in Oregon schools
By Joe Hathaway on Friday, October 13th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
WILSONVILLE — (Information from OSAA) Boys volleyball could soon be a new sport in Oregon.
The OSAA delegate assembly this week voted to approve boys volleyball as an emerging activity.
According to the OSAA, the sport has been growing in the state in recent years. In the spring, boys volleyball completed a season with 32 high school teams, surpassing the threshold of 25 to be considered as an emerging activity.
The vote means that the OSAA staff will work closely with boys volleyball organizers in assessing the sport’s viability to be sanctioned by the OSAA. To become fully sanctioned, it would need at least 50 schools to field teams. All the schools that participated last season were from the west side of the Cascades or Bend.
“We’ll probably put a committee together to work with them and figure out the details and minutiae around it,” OSAA executive director Peter Weber said. “We’ll see if the growth and interest is there.”
The evaluation period is likely to be two years. About half of the state associations have sanctioned boys volleyball and a handful of others have recognized it as an emerging activity.
So, could boys volleyball gain traction as a new high school sport in eastern Oregon?
“I think it’s all driven around the league. If we’ve got local teams that will participate, I don’t see why we wouldn’t join them,” said Baker High Athletic Director Al McCauley. “But if everything’s gonna be on the west side of the state, that kind of prohibits us from getting involved with travel expenses and what not.”
Among the questions to consider for boys volleyball is whether spring is the most feasible season for it. It is the busiest season for OSAA activities, but also the best time for gym access.
“Spring sports are for sure our busiest time of the year, but it does provide an opportunity for gym space for volleyball,” said McCauley. “If other Greater Oregon League teams or local teams start popping up, I could see Baker jumping in.”
Boys volleyball is the first sport to be recognized as an emerging activity since the OSAA adopted the policy a few years ago. A vote to recognize skiing did not pass.
Organizers of water polo and girls flag football also have shown interest in being recognized as an emerging activity. Oregon High School Water Polo made a presentation at this week’s meeting and agreed to return with more information in April.
