Bump, set, spike it: that’s the way we like it. 

Highland students can now look forward to hearing volleyball cheers from a new team in the west gym this upcoming 2024 spring sports season. 

The Utah High School Activities Association recently approved boys volleyball as a new spring sport at the high school level. The approval process then filtered down through the Salt Lake City School District level, where boys volleyball was approved as a spring sport at each individual high school: Highland, East, and West. 

“When UHSAA creates a new sport, we call this an emerging sport, before we get there they do a kind of survey, and try to figure out what sports people want, what the community wants,” said Monica French, the athletics director at Highland. “[Boys] volleyball has bubbled up for many years, and so finally they decided they would put it on as a sanctioned sport.”

While the addition of a boys volleyball team to the list of athletics at Highland will no doubt be an exciting opportunity for many, it will also complicate an already busy spring sports schedule.

“We already have eight sports in the spring, so this will be our ninth,” French said. 

For those who can find time for volleyball in their spring schedule, there will be plenty of competition throughout both Salt Lake and the rest of the state. According to French, interest in the sport will not be hard to find. 

“[Interest] has grown. It will be easily supported throughout the state, it’s definitely out there. Rural cities, school districts, everywhere around us, Granite, Jordan, Alpine, Canyons, all of them. They all have great interest in boys volleyball,” said French. 

Since boys volleyball will be a new sport in the district, the Highland team will be set up by the SLCSD with all of the equipment needed by the team, including nets, poles, balls, and uniforms. Not only will this set the spring players up for success, but could also benefit members of the girls team in the fall. 

“The nice thing is that they really do use pretty much the same equipment. Boys nets are just a little bit higher than girls nets, the size of the court is the same, so there’s really not a lot of difference,” French said. “I would envision that as long as we have two coaches that are talking to each other, and have a common vision, it would be beneficial to both boys and girls.” 

The Highland athletics department is currently looking to hire a coach for the boys volleyball team. According to French, the administration hopes to have filled the position before the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.