Growing the game: For the first time, every school in NIC-10 is playing boys volleyball
The newest boys sport in the NIC-10 quickly became wildly popular at some schools. Jefferson, for instance, has had an average of 55 players try out for the team the last few years, the most in any sport.
But, still, for most of the state — and even the nation — boys volleyball has had a small number of converts.
Yet, for the first time this year, there is a full contingent of 10 schools playing boys volleyball in the NIC-10.
“Bringing awareness to the sport in general is what is happening,” said Jaclyn Olejniczak, coach of Belvidere North’s first-year program. “It is such a popular girls sport. I am looking to see how much it takes off now for boys. It’s a sport you can play your whole life. It’s something you can hang onto.”
More: Why boys volleyball has become a huge sport at Jefferson
The NIC-10 began playing boys volleyball in 2016, with Jefferson and Guilford tying for the first title. But in the first seven seasons, only eight teams played. Now, it is a full NIC-10. Sort of, anyway. Belvidere North has split off from its co-op with Belvidere but does not have enough players for a JV team. And Freeport, fielding its first team, has elected to play only JV this year.
Still, every school is now playing the sport and all 10 teams will have varsity squads next year. That is a big more for a sport that has only 29 NCAA Division I teams and had only 16 states with high school state boys volleyball tournaments as recently as 2021 (now there are 22).
“The kids who decided to play love this,” Olejniczak said. “But it’s a very big learning curve. They have a lot to absorb. We have only one kid who plays club in our whole program. Everyone else is just athletes who decided why not give volleyball a try. We had only two weeks of practice before we played a match and had to learn all the rules. We have improved every single time, but it’s been rough. We’ve got some work to do.”
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So do Freeport players. But they couldn’t wait to get to work. When coach Holly Klever was in Jamaica on spring break, they got together and practiced on their own.
“I absolutely love that they wanted to be there,” Klever said. “They found places to go that weren’t at the school to practice so they didn’t get rusty with their skills.
“The boys want to practice 24 hours a day. They keep asking when is our next eight-hour practice. They want to practice more than two hours a day. I tell them it’s not legal (according to IHSA rules), but they are very determined to be there.”
“The excitement is definitely there,” Freeport senior Xzander Bennett said. “Any chance we get we will go to our local YMCA and set up the nets. Any chance we get to practice, we’re going to shoot the gun and try to get there.”
Freeport doesn’t have a varsity team because it only had 11 players go out for the team. But the current Pretzels are the ones who drummed up enough interest to start a team and they think the interest will continue to grow in Freeport.
“Starting out is always going to be rocky because it’s new and not a lot of people knew about it,” Klever said. “It will take a few years to grow, but don’t think it will be very difficult.”
Junior setter Bryce McDanel said Klever was wise to have Freeport’s first season be just a JV team.
“The way Coach did it is for the best. If we had rushed ahead and gone straight to varsity, we could have lost some of the excitement,” McDanel said. “Starting out at JV, we have a better chance. Everyone gets to experience the game and have more fun with it.
“As the years progress, we’re going to grow. The hardest part has been all the learning. It’s easier when you have older players who can teach the new ones the game. On our team, including the coach, everyone is new to the game. As everyone learns more, we will be a really strong team.
Bennett, like most of Freeport — or even Belvidere North — players, is an athlete more than he is a volleyball player. He played football for the Pretzels for all four years of high school, was on the swim team for three years and track team for two. Volleyball always appealed to him. It was something to do for fun.
Now the task is to make boys volleyball something Freeport kids grow up expecting to play competitively, not just for fun.
“I have always loved the sport,” Bennett said. “I liked messing around and playing it. When the motion started last year to have a team, I wanted to be on the team and see what it’s actually like to play. It’s been really fun. And it gives me hope that a couple of years down the road Freeport will have another chance to get our name out there in another sport we are really good at.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Why NIC-10 has full IHSA boys volleyball conference for the first time
