The University of Idaho Men’s Volleyball Club gained five of their 15 players this semester, despite difficulties with COVID-19, such as a two week delay to the beginning of fall practices.
Alex Gray, the president of men’s volleyball, said Palousafest is usually the main recruitment source.
“The season started off kind of rocky,” Gray said. “We didn’t necessarily know if we were going to get to practice, let alone get gym time or anything, but fortunately our Sport Club Federation director helped us through that paperwork process, which took about two weeks.”
With practices beginning the week before the club’s main recruitment event on Sept. 17, new members could rest assured they would be able to get some time on the court under their belt.
Palousafest Deconstructed seemed more productive in recruitment than past years because the signatures the club got on their sign-up sheet were few, but the people behind the pen stuck to the sport, Gray said.
Another reason the team is over half the size it was three years ago is due to the rising popularity in men’s high school volleyball, Gray said.
According to a 2018 report from the National Federation of State High School Associations, boy’s volleyball has been one of the fastest growing sports since 2012, with the sport expanding about 12% annually since.
Patrick Chmelik, a new member of the volleyball club, said he switched from playing basketball to volleyball because his older brother had been on the team and he wanted to give it a shot.
“Communication (is what stands out most) compared to basketball,” Chmelik said. “In basketball, everything is set and you should know what you’re doing at all times. For every scenario there’s a solution so there’s not that much need to talk.”
Chmelik said he didn’t feel like it was more difficult to learn how to play the sport during COVID-19. The club takes breaks every 15-30 minutes in order to sanitize the volleyballs and anything else that may need cleaned, Gray said. During practice, masks are required at all times and social distancing measures are enforced, especially when the team comes together for “huddle” to discuss the next portion of their practice.
Other safety measures include frequent safety reminders as well as going under quarantine after possible exposure to COVID-19.
Gray said there were several players that were unable to attend practice due to participating in quarantine after exposure along Greek Row or elsewhere.
“It keeps the numbers down (in practice),” Gray said. “I think the most we’ve had out of our 15 at one practice is probably nine, which is kind of rough but we still have plenty of people to do drills and stuff. They’ve definitely been productive practices.”
With less people consistently present, Gray said he is excited for such a large group to begin playing against other local teams. He said he aims to plan a game with the Washington State University men’s volleyball team as well as some other skilled people in the area. They plan to stay local with the competitions until they feel comfortable going farther and get permission to do so.
“I think the furthest we would go right now, comfortably, would be Spokane,” Gray said. “They are starting to do a couple of indoor tournaments, but we’re going to talk to Butch (Fealy) about that, just to make sure we get the OKs from the right people and to see what the guys (on the team) are comfortable with.”
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5.