Portland Community Schools Spike on Boys Volleyball
It’s a sport at the collegiate level and at the Olympics, so why don’t more boys play volleyball at the high school level? A decision by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) seeks to respond to that. The organization that oversees school sports in the state approved the addition of boys volleyball as an MHSAA varsity level sport in the 2025-2026 school year with boys volleyball being played in the spring season. For a number of years, schools across the state have had club teams that compete in unofficial leagues outside of the MHSAA.
Paul Evansen, the coach of Core Michigan Athletics, a volleyball club started in Portland, began to gauge interest in the sport in February on the Portland Michigan Community Page. A number of parents joined the conversation with children at all ages showing interest. Some already participate in YMCA volleyball or other clubs. Others though expressed a desire to have an official school sports team to play for.
Portland Public Schools Athletic Director Kevin Veale says however that a high school team is not being considered at this time, citing Portland's enrollment being too small to support another team sport. The proposal to add boys volleyball only makes sense for larger districts with larger student bodies. “If we add more sports, we are only going to be taking away from the ones we already have and we will weaken them by taking athletes from other sports we already have,” says Veale.
St. Patrick Catholic School Athletic Director, Patrick Russman likewise cites the lack of enrollment. However, Russman also says that the lack of participation from the Central Michigan Athletic Conference (CMAC) that St. Pat’s participation makes the question largely moot. If other schools in the league are not adding the sport, there would be nobody to play against. While there are no plans to add any official team sports at the local parochial school, Russman says that there is potential interest in a club sport that could happen in the future.
In response to those concerns about volleyball adversely affecting other spring sports, Coach Evansen says that, “there are schools like Lansing Catholic Central and Dewitt combining to form a team…what we’re talking about is a combined team from Lakewood, Ionia and Portland…as a possibility to pull fewer athletes from different sports.” Another option would be a school affiliated club team, though that would still require the support of the school district according to the MHSAA, Evansen says.
In that initial survey of public interest Evansen says they found at least 19 Portland High School boys, mostly upperclassmen, interested in playing for a school team. Most of those 19 students are not already playing spring sports, he asserts. “I 100 percent believe that volleyball will pull more from students who are not spring athletes,” Evansen claims, “but you kind of have to roll the dice.”
Throughout the spring, the Core Michigan Athletics Portland Volleyball Club is hosting a series of weekend workshops for high school boys as well as middle and elementary school boys and girls who want to learn more about the sport. The first date is March 30th and interested athletes can register online. To learn more, check out Portland Vball on Facebook.
DISCLAIMER: When not writing for the Beacon, Jordan Smith teaches high school science at St. Patrick Catholic School where his post is partially supported by the shared time program of Portland Public Schools. Shared time services is a State of Michigan program that allows public schools to provide some services to private schools.
