Christoval ISD approves addition of volleyball
Christoval High School is adding volleyball to its slate of girls athletic programs.
The decision was approved Wednesday at a regular meeting of the Christoval ISD board of trustees, and the school already has two coaches in place and plans for a summer camp.
Christoval athletic director Casey Otho said he's excited that girls in Christoval have a chance to compete in a full compliment of sports like the Christoval boys.
While Christoval has competed in cross country in the fall, the first team sport for competition during the year is basketball in winter. If a girl chooses not to play basketball, they must wait until spring for softball competition.
"Our boys play every sport together, and now this group of sixth, seventh and eighth grade girls have all played basketball and volleyball at the Y together, and it's just a different dynamic," Otho said. "It gives them a chance to compete in the fall."
Otho, who will start his 10th year at Christoval, said Jenn Tilson and Halee Marth will lead the volleyball startup. Marth started Christoval's softball program while Tilson came to Christoval several years ago as an assistant basketball and track coach and was approached by Otho with the opportunity to get back into coaching.
Christoval is hosting a volleyball camp for students in first through ninth grades, according to christovalisd.org. The camp is set for July 25-27 at the school’s newly built multipurpose gym and will cost $50 per camper.
Otho, who has a daughter who will be in seventh grade, reiterated his comments on his promotion to athletic director in July 2021, in hoping to bring more cohesion to the entire athletic program.
He said there were about 40 girls involved in basketball last season while there are 71 athletes in the sixth through freshman classes who say they are interested in volleyball.
"It gives more of them a chance to compete in the fall," Otho said.
Christoval will compete at the junior high level and have two junior varsity teams that will play an independent schedule until they can be placed into a district at the next biennial UIL realignment, Otho said.
With the multipurpose gym, Christoval will be able to immediately host competition.
Class 2A Christoval is the second San Angelo-area school in the last calendar year to add the sport. Class 3A Ballinger opted to add volleyball in June 2021.
Ballinger is aligned into a district for the 2023 and 2024 school years but is still at least a year away from competing at the varsity level.
While Christoval will join other longtime West Texas 1A and 2A programs such as Wink, Miles, Water Valley, Bronte and Colorado City, there are also several other 2A programs in Region I with shorter histories. Forsan, Sterling City, Junction and Coleman were in Class 2A last year, while Sonora and Reagan County were recently aligned into 2A, down from 3A.
Any of those teams could be potential district opponents for Christoval in two years.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Christoval ISD approves addition of volleyball
