Men’s volleyball became an official high school sport recognized by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) at the beginning of this school year. Groves decided to add it to our spring sport roster, providing an exciting new opportunity for male athletes.
While there has been a men’s volleyball club in previous years, there was plenty of demonstrated interest to bring it back this spring as an official varsity sport.
“Anytime the MHSAA adds a sport, we look to see if there’s interest within our student body, so we sent out a survey last year, and there was quite a bit of interest,” Groves Athletic Director Ross Gauthier said.
Since there were already over 70 high school teams statewide, it made perfect sense to make it officially established as a sport.
Overall, players seem very excited about the upcoming men’s volleyball season, especially since this is the first time in a while that Groves has added a new sport.
“I feel great. I think it’s so fun to be doing a first-year sport here at Groves. I think that’s just not an opportunity that comes for many,” Bishop Martinez-Mark, a junior at Groves, said.
Similarly, with excitement, players also feel lots of confidence for the upcoming volleyball season. The hard work and dedication of any sport or activity leads to great feelings about what’s next.
“I feel really confident about this season. I’ve been putting in the work, and I’m excited for it to finally start so we can compete and push ourselves to win as much as possible,” Tahj Toles, a Groves freshman, said.
Since tryouts are over, the team has officially been made. There are 13 people on the junior varsity team, and 15 on the varsity team. The people on these teams were chosen by head coach Dave Schmidlin, who has many years of volleyball coaching experience.
“We were very fortunate that we got coach Dave Schmidlin. He is a class of 1984 Groves grad, and he has coached collegiately for many years and has a ton of volleyball experience. So we’re very lucky to have him,” Gauthier said.
Next, volleyball is a team sport, which means you have to have a strong bond with your team.
“I hope to develop good, strong bonds with my team and get good team chemistry going…I think getting that level of brotherhood and that camaraderie would be amazing, especially for playing too, so we can get some wins, you know?” Martinez-Mark said.
Friendship and sportsmanship are always important, and the players will bond even more over the season.
Having goals is one of the most important things in any sport, no matter if it seems easy or nearly impossible.
“I mean, I have a goal, and it’s just for us to win as many as possible, but I’d hope for us to go undefeated,” Toles said.
Even with this goal that seems crazy to most, it’s never impossible, and the team could very well go undefeated.
Before tryouts, open gyms took place every Wednesday from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm to allow players to train and prepare for both tryouts and the upcoming season. Now that the season has started, practices are Monday-Wednesday from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm on Thursdays and Fridays.
The varsity team’s schedule has the regular season from March 20-21, the playoffs start May 26, and finals are June 6. Even though tryouts have ended for this season, anyone can try out next year! Go out and support your fellow Falcons!
