Existing Cheyenne Mountain, Vanguard boys’ club volleyball programs should make for smooth transition
With a thriving boys’ club volleyball culture at Cheyenne Mountain High School and The Vanguard School, don’t expect these programs to suffer from the expansion-year blues when the sport begins official play under the Colorado High School Activities Association in the spring of 2021.
The landmark decision was made April 24 at the CHSAA’s Legislative Council meeting in Denver. It came after the sport three times was denied requests to be recognized as a varsity sport.
In addition to boys’ volleyball, the sports of girls’ wrestling and unified bowling also had their CHSAA sanctioning bids accepted.
“We have a pretty good pulse on the volleyball piece with 35 kids playing on two levels at the club team here,” Cheyenne Mountain director of athletics Kris Roberts said. “We anticipate that the interest will only grow. The other two sports are harder to project since there aren’t programs in place, but overall, it’s a wonderful opportunity for kids to access more sports and be involved.”
For more than two decades, the Colorado Boys High School Volleyball Association has promoted the sport throughout the state. Vanguard is the three-time defending 3A state club champs.
“I think boys’ volleyball is ready for the transition because of the thriving club system that’s already in place,” Roberts said.
According to the CBHSVA website, there were 60 teams from 40 high schools competing during the 2018 season with more than 700 athletes. Since the pilot program was approved, the state added 20 more teams, with 80 in competition and more than 1,000 athletes in 2019.
Each sport went through a rigorous process, which required an establishment of a pilot season and also had to gain approval from CHSAA’s Classification, League Organization and Appeals Committee, the equity committee, the sports medicine committee and board of directors.
Girls’ wrestling saw a successful pilot season with more than 70 female wrestlers from 47 schools competing in the state meet. It was the sport’s first as a pilot program and first state tournament in which athletes were required to qualify. As a club program, the girls’ wrestling state championships were invitational-style tournaments.
Special Olympics Unified Bowling has seen participation from Colorado schools since 1996, according to the program’s pilot sport presentation documents submitted to the CHSAA equity committee in January. The document states that the sport has grown from 150 to more than 750 athletes in the last five years, with 32 high schools in Colorado offering the program.
It marks the first addition of a CHSAA-sanctioned sport since boys’ lacrosse in 1998, followed by girls’ lacrosse (1997) and field hockey (1996).
Doherty High School boys play volleyball in 2017. The sport was sanctioned last week by CHSAA, but Cheyenne Mountain High School and The Vanguard School already boast a thriving boys’ club volleyball culture. Interest is now anticipated to grow even more in schools across the city.
Vista Ridge’s Kai Morrison, right, wrestles with Peyton’s Samantha Krause-Mahan during the girls wrestling tournament Jan. 12 at Vista Ridge High School. There were 319 girls from 114 high schools in Colorado that certified their weight this wrestling season. This is the first school year that Colorado has allowed an all-girls wrestling team in high schools, and the sport was sanctioned last week by CHSAA.