Local officials weigh in on OHSAA adding sports

The Ohio High School Athletic Association recently announced it will be adding boys volleyball and girls wrestling as emerging sports, starting the 2022-23 school year.

It’s a move many felt was coming at some point, but now that it’s here, the preparation for next year and beyond begins.

“I don’t want to say that we already have enough for '22-23, but I think you will see a growing interest in our area for both sports,” Cambridge Athletics Director Aaron Quinn said. “We’ve seen an uptick in females participating in football at all of our levels, and that should transition over to wrestling. Boys volleyball may take a little longer, but it will catch on. I think in the next 1-3 years, both of those programs should be up and running.”

That’s the key word too — program.

No school in the area has an official boys volleyball team, though the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association has been hosting a state tournament since 1988, last year competing in both Division I and II. Teams primarily come from larger schools and metropolitan areas.

On the girls side, this year’s Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association state girls championship will be its third. The first year had a large turnout and last season, an increase in participation warranted a regional tournament to qualify for the state finals.

Cambridge doesn’t have any girls competing on the wrestling team, but others in the area, like Meadowbrook and Shenandoah, which has its own girls’ team and is best poised to make the transition, do.

Getting these programs off the ground and running will require teamwork and interest from the ground levels, clear through the varsity programs. The junior high, club, and rec levels for each sport, and building interest in those, will be paramount.

“We’re going to place a huge emphasis on the middle school to begin these programs,” Quinn said. “That’s where it starts. We want to create a quality program and not just assemble a team, so you start not only in the 7th and 8th grades, but in the youth sports as well.”

Quinn would know. At his previous stop prior to Cambridge, he was heavily involved in getting a boys volleyball program at the school. So this won’t be his first rodeo in getting a new program off the canvas.

Schools already have both wrestling coaches and volleyball coaches. Considering boys volleyball is a spring sport, it may be doable for the girls coach to work with the boys team.

When you think volleyball, there’s no name you’d want building your program than Meadowbrook’s Kelly Zehnder. She’s helped guide the Colts’ volleyball program to new heights and now has a pipeline of talent to replenish the roster year in and out.

“There are so many awesome coaches around, both on the middle school and club levels that come to mind,” Zehnder said. “But I would love to help out. It’s a very technical spot if you’ve seen it played at its highest level.”

Want a real-world example of how strong and athletically gifted top male volleyball players are? Do a quick Google search of the name Steve Timmons.

Zehnder had an added reason to get excited about a men’s team. Her son plays and loves both basketball and football, but also does baseball. But he’s grown up going to his mom’s volleyball matches and does find it interesting. There’s a coach on the junior high level who also has a son in a similar situation.

She also knows holding the boys’ volleyball season in the spring gives it the best chance to succeed. The winter sports season features basketball, while in the fall, football is king.

“Being a spring sport should help give it a bit more viability, not having to interfere with football or boys basketball. It’s a little more doable this way.”

Plus, with the spring sports, it’s a little easier to share athletes, depending upon the sport. While uncommon, it’s not unheard of, especially at smaller schools, for someone to compete on both the track team and baseball team.

Baseball and volleyball probably demand too much time for someone to do both, but volleyball and track, that’s a possibility.

“We encourage multi-sport athletes, but when you’re talking about multiple sports in the same season, you have to be a little careful,” Quinn said. “You have to consider the success of that student athlete and the time constraints. So, while I don’t think doing volleyball and baseball would work, baseball and track, or volleyball and track, there’s more room to work.”

Those are all things that can be ironed out during the coming months in preparation for that first season and beyond. The good news is teams need only find interest and purchase uniforms. The equipment, and facilities, because of the opposite-gendered team already being fielded, is available and ready for use.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Local officials weigh in on OHSAA adding sports