Boys volleyball will be played as a sanctioned sport beginning in the spring of 2025
Oct. 5—It's been known since last spring that
boys volleyball would become a Minnesota State High School League sanctioned sport
beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
Now it is known what time of year it will be played, spring.
The MSHSL made that announcement at a board of directors meeting today, when it also determined that the state softball tournament would go from a two-day event to three days beginning this school year.
Boys volleyball has been around in Minnesota as an unsanctioned sport the last six years. A Rochester Mayo-based team has been a strong one with solid numbers. Some club teams have had representatives from a variety of schools, including one teaming up from Kasson-Mantorville, Byron, Hayfield and Triton.
Austin has its own club team and Grand Meadow and Southland have combined for one.
Kasson-Mantorville/Hayfield/Triton/Byron third-year boys head coach Jeremy Braun was pleased with today's news.
"This is what we expected, with the Minnesota Boys Volleyball Association pushing for it to be a spring sport," Braun said. "We are just very excited. Now that it will be a sanctioned sport, more kids may jump into it."
Kasson-Mantorville Activities Director Broc Threinen shared Braun's enthusiasm.
"We are just really excited to have sanctioned volleyball," Threinen said. "It is a really cool opportunity for kids who have played before."
Boys club volleyball has also been a spring sport, so there will be some continuation there. The difference beginning in 2025, though, is that high school boys volleyball will be sanctioned, with practices five days per week rather than what has been just a few times per week for most club teams.
Spring was the preferred season for this MSHSL-sanctioned version mostly as to not compete with girls volleyball, particularly with the sport experiencing a referee shortage.
Spring does offer at least one challenge, though. In early spring, cold and wet weather chases many of the sports inside. The addition of daily volleyball practices could lead to a glut of athletes competing for gymnasium space.
