The boys volleyball boom in NC is here, and NCHSAA sanctioning could be sooner than you think

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The sounds at Queens University of Charlotte’s Curry Arena were familiar enough, even if the sight was not.

Who in North Carolina can’t immediately hear the sneakers squeaking and the bellows from the stands and not think of basketball? Sure, the players jumped high, celebrated big moments, huddled for timeouts — but there were no hoops in store on this day.

This was boys volleyall, a sport that isn’t yet sanctioned by the N.C. High School Athletic Association but is in its ninth year of holding its own state championships.

It has experienced exponential growth and now boasts 135 teams across the state, public and private, with more lined up to join next year.

For the first time in its nine-year march towards sanctioning, the finals and semifinals were hosted on a college campus — fittingly at Queens, the only Division I athletics program in the state with a boys volleyball program.

There was enough interest in 4A to have its own bracket, where West Forsyth defeated Hough 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-18). All 3A, 2A, and 1A schools had their separate bracket, where Triangle Math & Science defeated Mount Pleasant in an epic 3-1 match (25-19, 34-36, 25-13, 25-10).

Previous iterations of the final bracket have split teams up in other ways, but this year’s was streamlined to fit what the NCHSAA does — separating them by size of school.

The changing of the playoff format is intentional, hoping to make it as easy as possible for the NCHSAA to adopt boys volleyball as the newest sport in the near future.

“It just reflected the growth of the game. We saw about a 50 percent split from 1A to 3A and 4A. We modeled that after lacrosse. I think anytime you can mimic something they’re already doing, it makes it easier for them to say yes,” Sarah Conklin, Director of the N.C. Boys Volleyball Association.

A humble beginning

Conklin played volleyball in college, representing the Charlotte 49ers. When her oldest son, Garrett Garcia, was in middle school, he asked if he could play too.

The natural answer was no. There was no boys volleyball team.

“Well, can’t we just start it?” he said.

That was the humble beginning of a nine-year passion project for Conklin, as she went to bat for a sport that didn’t exist. She found cooperation in Union County — at the middle school, high school, and even club levels — and the journey began in 2016-17 with four middle schools: Marvin Ridge, Weddington, Piedmont, and Parkwood.

Growth was slow for the first years — the pandemic stifled any early momentum — but the last four have seen exponential growth.

In 2022, only seven schools participated.

It more than tripled to 25 in 2023.

In 2024, it was up to 68.

This year, it was at 135 — more than 2,000 percent growth in four years.

Conklin has heard from dozens of athletic directors who don’t want to add another sport until it gets official sanctioning. She notes that while some schools have been enthusiastic in embracing the sport, others are far from it. Some teams did not practice or play on campus as a result.

“Our ADs, our wonderful teachers, are spread incredibly thin,” said Conklin, who now coaches her youngest son at Weddington. “I don’t begrudge an AD (for saying) ‘I don’t want one more thing to do in the spring.’ That’s why we try to make it as easy as possible.”

“We’re limiting the opportunity for so many young athletes to not only to get a college scholarship but to just be part of a team and find a place to belong,” she added. “The camraderie that boys volleyball brings is unlike any other because you have to work so closely.”

Falling in love with the game

The game has the same rules as the girls, but there are some noticeable differences.

There are those moments of togetherness after a big point, just like the girls game, but also a few stare-downs and mean-mugs on faces of players after a big point that are more remniscent of a basketball player getting an “and-one.”

The jump serves also stand out. While rare in the high school girls game, most of the Hough and West Forsyth players tossed the ball 20 feet into the air before timing their leap.

North Carolina has had club teams for awhile, and is home to some pretty good talent.

There are currently two North Carolina players on the U.S. National U19 team — Thomas Demps IV of Broughton (whose older sister Jade was N.C. Gatorade Player of the Year) and 6-foot-10 Grant Lamoureux of West Forsyth, who graduated in the fall semester to enroll at national power Pepperdine.

Conklin said that club interest hasn’t sparked high school interest (there isn’t yet a team at Broughton for Demps, for instance) but the reverse. Once players encounter the sport at a high school setting, they then seek out club options.

Not every team has a club player, but they also don’t need one.

Other sports backgrounds have made the transition to the game easier than it appears.

A wrestler might make a great libero, or a goalkeeper a great middle blocker.

But over everything else, a willingness to learn and improve is all that’s needed.

“There’s a lot of courage involved and vulnerability to learn a sport as a high school guy. A lot of guys have only been playing a few years — even if they play club — (so) they still remember what it was like to not be able to pass the ball with your forearm, because you don’t grow up doing that.,” Conklin said. “But they learn so quickly so as a coach it’s so rewarding because you have win after win almost every practice and they learn so quickly.”

Path to sanctioning

Conklin is on the board of directors of First Point Volleyball Foundation, which works to grow the boys’ game in a number of states. When a North Carolina school adopts the sport, she and her team offer to handle scheduling. There are also grants for first-year and second-year teams to help ease the transition.

This year, her team even calculated teams’ RPI to mimic how the NCHSAA seeds its brackets.

Everything is done to make a seamless transition into NCHSAA sanctioning, but it’s not as simple as just gaining popularity.

For a sport to be officially adopted by the NCHSAA, it must meet at least one of two participation thresholds for two consecutive years.

One of the two thresholds is if at least 50 percent of schools within a single classification offers sport. They hit that benchmark this year. Fifty-four of the 103 schools in 4A fielded teams.

One down, one to go.

However, the “50 percent of a classification” rule is getting phased out and, starting next year as the NCHSAA expands from four to eight classifications, the bylaws will have just the one remaining threshold: a sport must be played by at least 25 percent of all NCHSAA member schools to be sanctioned.

But good news: that should be met as well.

With 446 total NCHSAA members, the 25 percent threshold comes out to 111.5 schools. Already, eight schools have told Conklin they plan on having teams next year, which would bring the total to 113 — enough to meet a required standard for a second straight year.

Girls flag football, another sport on the cusp of sanctioning, has hit thresholds in back-to-back years but has other hurdles, like differences on field size and preferred season (spring or fall) among schools.

Volleyball has no such incongruity among its participants, which could make for quicker sanctioning.

Conklin hopes that both sports can make it across the sanctioning finish line.

She knows what volleyball has meant for her sons and her players.

“What I love is I’ve never had a guy step in my gym who doesn’t fall in love with the game,” Conklin said. “You almost have to keep them from playing so much.”