At Carterville High School, male students have many different sports to participate in, but volleyball is not one of them. Competitive sports, at this time, that are available for boys are baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and wrestling. However, for the girls, there is basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, and wrestling.
The girls of our school lack the option of playing football and baseball, while the boys cannot participate in softball or volleyball. It is an issue that both genders cannot participate in certain sports. In high schools across the country, it is a common recurrence for boys to not have the chance to explore or play volleyball. This information is disappointing to those male students who want to play volleyball as a career, but are not allowed to participate in the education and practice of it competitively at their local high schools.
Boys’ volleyball has been the fastest growing sport in the country since 2012, and it is still not mandated for boys in Carterville High School to play. In US High Schools 2018-2019, Illinois was the top state for Boys High School Volleyball participants with 7,341 members.
The IHSA (Illinois High School Association) regulates our competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. In the IHSA Constitution, boys volleyball tournament series have been approved by the Board of Directors for all schools in Illinois, yet it’s never been discussed as a possible sport for our students.
Senior, female competitive volleyball player, Emma Rogers says, “My boyfriend has actually shown much interest in this sport. It would be fantastic to add another sport to our program. Boys’ volleyball is extremely impressive, and it could pose an opportunity to better the Girls’ program with competitions at practice.”
The federal Title IX Act is a Civil Rights Law passed as part of the education Amendments of 1972. This law enforced by the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights protects students inside of the US from being excluded based on their gender in sports.
This law is made to allow equal opportunities for both genders in sports; however, it does not mean that boys are allowed to be in the girls volleyball team. If boys are allowed to participate in the girls’ volleyball team, the factors of height, weight and strength dominate and unfairly change the sport, inevitably decreasing the competitive opportunities for women.
Our male students cannot participate in volleyball, so they have to practice and hope a college is interested in newcomers with no competitive experience. Typically, volleyball is stereotyped as a girls sport, while football and wrestling are for boys.
Competitive dancer, junior Katelyn Wallen says,” I think the main reason why schools don’t have one is because of gender stereotypes. Volleyball is very much considered a ‘girl sport’ and has been for many years but as society changes boys have found an interest in the sport as well. Schools should make a boys team for volleyball as the interest in it has peaked and having it as a competitive school sport would promote the sport.”
“Volleyball is a sport for everyone, it would provide a unique opportunity for boys to be able to do something that interests them,” says competitive wrestler, junior Spencer Crotser.
So far, students view this as a chance to satisfy everyone’s wants in life. Having a boys’ volleyball team would give boys in Carterville High School a chance to stay physically active, while playing the sport they enjoy most.
If these things changed in our high school, there would be a definite increase in the number of boys interested in playing volleyball. It is common male students are not allowed to play volleyball in high schools. Our country has already fought for equal opportunities in sports, and Illinois already has a bunch of boys’ volleyball teams; therefore, boys in Carterville should be encouraged to speak to administration on how they could bring this sport to Carterville.
