KIMBERLY (NBC 26) — Boys high school volleyball is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation. This week on “Youth Sports: Beyond the Score,” NBC 26 spoke with the Kimberly Papermakers boys’ volleyball team to find out why.
“I think the more we can impact the community and grow the sport more broadly, the better it will be,” Kimberly senior Jack Hrzek said.
The pace is fast. It’s a high-stakes gamble. intense. Volleyball enthusiasts say watching and playing the sport gives them an adrenaline rush.
“(If) you get to match point, you feel like you’re in a completely different room,” Hrzek said.
According to a Wall Street Journal study, the number of boys participating in volleyball has increased by 56% over the past decade.
“The quality of women’s colleges for girls is going up, it’s on ESPN, it’s on Bally Sports, it’s on TV all the time, and I think the boys are seeing that too. There are a lot of great high schools in Wisconsin. There’s a lot of coaches there. They’re producing a really great team. It’s a fun culture,” said Kimberly assistant coach Tara Kraus, who played at UWGB.
St. Norbert men’s coach BJ Bryant said the NCAA championships are the only time men’s volleyball receives national coverage outside of the Olympics.
“These championships are great, but it’s one of those tiny little windows in the sports landscape and sports broadcast setting that gets buried,” he said.
Matt Seidl is an assistant at St. Norbert College and head coach at Kimberly High School, but he says it starts at the youth level.
“Come to the gym and tell me to jump and hit the ball hard,” he said. “And what I do with the young kids here is get them excited about sports. That’s the first thing we do. We just run, jump high, Just hit the ball hard.”
The Kimberly hosts youth camps in the summer, where high school athletes interact with youth.
“I really enjoy connecting with the younger generation because they kind of flock to you and I really enjoy sharing the knowledge that I have with them to help grow the sport.” Hrzek said.
Thirty-six states have sanctioned high school boys’ volleyball, and Wisconsin is one of only three states to offer both types of volleyball in the fall. Bryant believes making this a spring sport will foster growth.
“In states like Illinois where volleyball is played in the spring, there are far more schools that approve it,” he says. “So there are over 70 boys programs in the state right now. I think Illinois only has a little over 200 boys high school teams.”
Although there is still a way to go in terms of growth for youth volleyball, the sport has come a long way.
“When I was a freshman, there were only about 15 people trying out, but that jumped to about 20 the second year and it has continued to grow ever since,” Owen Kraus said.
“Just their athleticism, they’re night and day from what they were five to 10 years ago. They’re really great athletes,” Seidl said.
