Barely six months ago, boys' volleyball looked to be on firmly on track to become the next sport sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League.
It had two seasons with a club-sport designation to build on. Participation numbers were booming, from 400 in its first year to about 1,400 committed to play in its third season. It appeared to be only a matter of time, and a short time at that, before boys' volleyball would become an official high school sport.
"To go from 400 to 1,400 in three seasons, that's a heckuva a lot of boys interested in volleyball," said Shakopee's Jenny Kilkelly, president of the Minnesota Boys' High School Volleyball Association (MBHSVA).
Kilkelly, association vice president Krista Flemming, Hall of Fame prep volleyball coach Walt Weaver and University of Minnesota women's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon have been the collective driving force behind the push to make boys' volleyball an MSHSL-sanctioned sport.
After years of presenting, promoting and prodding before the MSHSL's various regional administrative committees, by last February 10 of the state's 16 committees had voted to approve the addition of boys' volleyball, Weaver said. All that was needed was for the league's Representative Assembly, which is made up of Region representatives, to give the go-ahead, something that was expected at a planned meeting later that spring.
"We were on the verge," Weaver said. "It's time had come."
And then, just like that, it became another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. Boys' volleyball is held in the spring, when gyms are available. When the MSHSL canceled the 2020 spring athletic season, it took boys' volleyball with it, along with all of the momentum the sport had built to that point.
"For the first time, we had moved to the front of the bus," Weaver said. "We were one step from being sanctioned. There was a lot to be excited about."
