I always hear “I want a volleyball team,” “I wish we had a volleyball team”, so let’s get the spirit to spike.
At Oakmont, several have expressed that they wish the school had a volleyball team. According to Mr. Jeffrey Lizotte, the principal at Oakmont Regional High School, adding a volleyball team at Oakmont would be a great addition to our school. If a volleyball team has always been wanted, then why do we still not have one here at Oakmont?
Many students, particularly girls, have spoken about their interest in having a volleyball team. Tasha Hood, a senior, explained that she has always wanted a team. She tried to put a team together in middle school with other girls, but the team ultimately failed due to a lack of students willing to try out. This was five years ago. Lizotte had also expressed something similar about how there have been attempts by students who have tried starting a team, but then ended up failing because of a lack of students. This shows the overall issue that people end up backing out when it comes to tryouts.
One of the overall concerns Lizotte had was the lack of space. Since we have sports like field hockey and soccer going on in the fall, the space is limited, especially when it rains. Everyone wants to practice inside, yet there are only two gyms available, and as Lizotte said,” Some claim the gyms before others, so there wouldn’t be enough space.”This problem has a solution. We can practice at Cushing because we already use Cushing for hockey, and they have a volleyball team.
Lizotte then said that we may have enough money. This has its negatives, whether we have the money or how much we have. When I asked Lizotte why most schools have volleyball teams, and we don’t, he responded that we don’t have enough students in our school, which is a major factor. It was also noted that this could affect other students who already have fall sports, further reducing the number of students.
Oakmont junior Jaelyn Gagnon stated that she enjoys volleyball and that it would be a good addition to our athletic department. She has shared her deep interest in volleyball, and she wants to have a team here at Oakmont.
Something Dawley and Lizotte both had in common was that we don’t have a “club volleyball advisor.” Because we need to start a club before forming a team to demonstrate strong interest, Lizotte added that he would like someone who already works at Oakmont to coach, but no one has shown interest yet.
We have a small population at Oakmont, as Lizotte stated. According to Lizotte, having a small population would have a negative effect on starting this team. Adding on to the fact that kids already play fall sports, and that could intervene. Yet Narragansett, a high school in Rhode Island, has a population of 427 students and has all the sports we have and more. We have a population of 640. That’s a big difference.
It’s noticed that Oakmont takes academics very seriously, and you can’t play a sport if you’re failing or show negative behavior. Statistics show that a high school volleyball program increased student engagement and led to an average of 12% increase in grades for participants. This link shows the increase in student academics.https://volleycountry.com/news/how-playing-volleyball-boosts-student-engagement-and-academic-performance.
According to 3 time gold medal gymnast, in an interview about the benefits of volleyball, she said, “You learn about communications, teamwork, dedication, and organization/prioritizing your time. I miss the volleyball training because you get pushed past your limits and find out what you are capable of accomplishing”. https://usavolleyball.org/play/the-benefits-of-volleyball/
Volleyball has shown rapid growth in high school volleyball participation, increasing from over 450,000 to over 500,000 between 2010 and 2019. Volleyball has become a well-known sport. Every school should have a volleyball team, especially because it has so many good benefits, and it’s for both genders.
A student who attends Leominster High School, Franceilly Melo, whose school has a volleyball team but doesn’t play. She shared that she believes Oakmont should have a volleyball team because, to her, volleyball is a big deal and takes up a very big part of sports. Francielly also mentioned she thinks a volleyball team would bring more competition since we are a small school. I agree that volleyball could open our school up to more opportunities.
At Oakmont, this would be an excellent program because it would open new opportunities in leagues and would make us have a team that most people have been interested in. According to Lizotte, he has even said how he enjoys how most of the schools we already play with have a volleyball team. It would be easier because the towns are close, meaning less cost for us since we won’t have to drive farther to find schools in our divisions. Still, the buses would cost about 20 thousand or maybe more, according to Lizzote. This is still a major benefit, as well as helping with the budget. And as it is shown, most of the problems involve the fact whether our school has enough to support the new program.
Fundraising is always a great option that would get us closer to having that volleyball team, and I think a very big positive factor is the $285 every student has to pay to do a sport, which would also help with budgeting.
After everyone I’ve gotten to speak with, I think a volleyball team at Oakmont would be possible. If enough people gather and show that they really want this team, then the next step would be the start of a club. And if we started fundraising, then it could be a major help with the budget.
