Seniors lay solid foundation for Manteno boys volleyball

It began as some informal pickup games three years ago in Manteno’s auxiliary gym.

Now, it’s Manteno’s newest sport: boys volleyball.

“It originally started as some students inviting us out … we would just go out to play some volleyball out in ‘The Palace,’” senior Mason McElroy said. “And eventually we realized that we could turn it into like, a thing. And me, Ben (Milton) and (coach Matt) Clymer kept on bugging staff. Last year we had jerseys, we had a game and this year it’s an actual thing.

“It’s pretty fun to see it all come together.”

“A lot of us started joining club volleyball at Elevate (in Bourbonnais) last year,” Milton said. “And then as the season ended, there were people going back to their high-school teams, getting ready to play. And we realized that we didn’t have a (school) team. That was just the main inspiration to get things going.”

They needed a coach, and Clymer stepped up despite not having much experience with the sport other than watching his daughters play.

“I haven’t been a coach,” he said. “I didn’t play in college. We didn’t have high-school teams back in my day. So that’s been the hardest part …. the learning curve of the stuff that isn’t the volleyball … (like) how to warm up.”

The lack of a feeder program was another hurdle.

“My daughters have been playing since they were 6,” Clymer said. “Most of these boys have just been playing in P.E. and learning all sorts of bad habits and playing in backyards and pools. And so trying to get them to look and act like a real volleyball team has also been a challenge.”

But the Panthers persevered after last spring’s soft launch of the program.

“This year (we thought), let’s turn up the heat and actually get uniforms,” Clymer said. “We have 10 games on the schedule. So it’s been a real whirlwind.”

All the games are nonconference because no other Illinois Central Eight school plays boys volleyball. The Panthers fielded two teams, with the higher-level squad earning wins against JV teams from St. Rita, IC Catholic, Bradley-Bourbonnais and Kankakee Trinity.

The first win, against IC Catholic, “kind of showed us that we can actually do this,” McElroy said. “We had no idea what we were walking into. We didn’t even see any of these teams before.”

The program is senior-heavy with more than half the players graduating this year.

“But I can’t be more proud of these boys (coming) from not even being a thing,” Clymer said. 

Now the challenge will be sustaining and growing the program.

“We’re hoping by showing what we’re doing here (that) we’re gonna inspire people to come out and try out next year, especially eighth-graders coming into high school,” Milton said.

“With no feeder (system), I don’t know that we’re ready to play varsity-level volleyball quite yet,” Clymer said. “I’d love to be (ready) in two, three years and I’ve got a couple of promising freshmen. … So yeah, it’s growing a program from scratch. We’re gonna do it, it’s gonna be awesome.”

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