In a time where there are opportunities for both young men and women to play sports in high school, such as basketball, soccer, tennis, swim, track, softball/baseball – one sport that is an obvious exception to the rule is volleyball.

For most, volleyball is seen as a girl’s sport. There are no men’s volleyball teams in Humble ISD, and to most the idea would sound ridiculous. It’s a bit scandalous to think about transferring those short-shorts over to men.

Yet, men’s volleyball is just as big as women’s volleyball in the professional sports world. There are teams of both genders representing the U.S. in the 2016 Olympics. However, the first opportunity most men would get to play the sport in school would be college. As was the case for my dad. He played on a rec men’s volleyball team in college, the whole team assuredly looking stylish in their ‘90s uniforms, with those gaudy jerseys and sweatbands. He never played on any organized team after that, but he’s boasted on multiple occasions about his experience.

See, a potential men’s team doesn’t have to wear the short-shorts the girls wear (though that might raise attendance). High school men’s teams typically wear basketball shorts. And there are plenty of examples to follow outside of Texas. While Texas only has 18 high schools with men’s volleyball teams, according to maxpreps.com, California has 90. Now that’s to be expected out of California, but it’s proven that men’s volleyball can be a thing in the south too – Missouri has 63 men’s teams. Our girl’s team has had a phenomenal season, and surely, if we had a team and opponents to play, a KPARK men’s team could enjoy the same sort of success.

So it’s not a matter of if there can be successful men’s volleyball teams, it’s a question of whether or not Texas will put in the effort to have their own. And it seems, at least at KPARK, that it could be a possibility. In the past, boy’s teams have competed against the girls at Fall Frenzy. This shows that despite the pressure to look ‘cool’, male students here do have some sort of interest in the sport, and that, the possibility of a boy’s volleyball team at KPARK is not so far fetched after all.