It was a dog-eat-dog match as the Shawnee Wolves faced the Edmond North Huskies for the Oklahoma Boys Volleyball Association (OKBVA) State High School JV Championship.
Held at Union Freshman Academy in Tulsa on Oct. 29-30, Shawnee took state, three sets to one.
Coach, facilitator, and parent Brian Nave said he attributes their success to “ grit.”
“ We asked these boys to leave it all on the court, and they did,” said Nave in an email. “ They only lost two sets the entire weekend.”
For those wondering if they missed the memo about Shawnee having boys volleyball as a sport, this is only their second school year to exist.
Nave said his son was determined to play volleyball and found a way.
“ My youngest son, Toby Nave, wanted to play volleyball, so I tasked him to find some players, and we would figure it out,” said Nave. “ Not a tremendous amount of interest, but I am hoping that a State Championship will help with recruiting, as we are graduating two seniors this year.”
This year, there are 16 schools in Oklahoma participating in the OKBVA, and they split them into eight varsity and eight junior varsity teams. Being a relatively smaller school and having mostly sophomores and freshmen, Shawnee’s team was designated as JV.
Nave said they practice at the Shawnee High School Performing Arts and Activities Center (PAAC) and the Shawnee YMCA.
“ Big kudos to both locations,” Nave added.
“ Last year, we had very limited time in the (PAAC) gym, but this year with the support of the Shawnee Athletic Department (especially Assistant Athletic Director Julia Holland), we were able to get into the gym on a regular basis,” he said. “ We were also able to engage (former Shawnee) Coach Kristen Bonner to teach us anything and everything about volleyball.”
Julia Holland was the former girls volleyball coach, along with Bonner as her assistant, for several years and said she enjoys watching boys volleyball, from a coach’s standpoint. She also hopes it will continue to grow and is happy to see their success. Holland said the team made it to the state tournament last year, but didn’t get to the finals.
“I see from coaching for 15-plus years, I’ve seen the growth of boys volleyball from when I first started, and even when I played in high school, and seeing the growth of what the boys volleyball has done, and it’s growing, and it’s definitely growing in our state,” said Holland. “We are, in our state of Oklahoma, we are definitely behind in boys volleyball, as a specific sport, and I love watching it.”
“I’m excited that they’ve done well. They did well last year being their first year to do it, and I mean, the kids have the talent, and it’s good to see them be successful.”
Another reason boys volleyball may be a secret to the masses is its lack of sanctioning by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA).
According to an article from Oct. 2021 on the OKBVA website, the last time boys volleyball was an OSSAA sport was in 1986.
It stated that the OSSAA officially sanctioned girls wrestling in 2021, and they added eSports later that year, so the organization has hope for boys volleyball.
The OKBVA mission statement on their website reads, “ OKBVA was established in 2020 to help bridge that gap by promoting and assisting Oklahoma high schools in establishing teams through grassroots efforts. OKBVA works with students and parents to give them the tools to share with their school, with the goal to establish teams for the league.”
“ Boys volleyball often has a large interest from the students, and logistically requires minimal school administrative support and funding. We are expecting exponential growth in Oklahoma that will eventually lead to boys volleyball becoming a sanctioned OSSAA sport in the future.”
Nave said, “ The beauty of volleyball is that it can be a sport for anyone. We didn’t have volleyball players to recruit, so we have representation from all aspects - no, sports: soccer, baseball, football, and wrestling.”
For more information,
visit https://www.okbva. com/.
