The newest sport at GHS, boys volleyball, is about to kick off their sophomore season, this time, with a year of experience.

Boys volleyball is a club sport not yet affiliated with the IHSAA, and the team competes against other club teams at schools across the state.

An issue the boys volleyball team faced in their inaugural season was not enough competition. Not enough schools had teams yet that could travel to or host games. 

“My hope for this season is that we get more chances to compete. Last year, it was difficult to find games, but this year, more schools have teams so we should be able to get more experience playing,” junior Thawng Cung said.

With experience being sought after for the brand-new team, a goal has emerged to rebuild the team from the ground up.

“Last year in our first season, it was just about getting a team of guys together and finding enough people to compete. Now, we can begin focusing on our younger players and training them in one specific area for four years,” Coach Zach Mackie said.

A year of experience allows for the coach to see what the team needs to improve.

“This year we are going to work on defense and passing. It is more important that we get a strong defense rather than an explosive, booming offense,” Coach Mackie said.

Despite a large number of last year’s team graduating, the team is beginning the season with numbers larger than before.

“We have enough people now that we can all break up to focus on individual skill groups instead of all having to learn a little bit of everything,” Cung said.

The early days of the season showed nothing but good signs for the veteran players.

“Seeing how many people we have definitely made my expectations for the season grow, especially with some of the people having experience. It was a really good sign,” senior Julio De La Rosa said.

On any team, the goal of the veteran players is to help mentor and shape the younger, less experienced players into valuable, productive members of the team.

‘It took me all of last season to learn it is okay to make mistakes; that is how you grow as a player. I hope that our new players can pick that up quicker than I did because it is the best way to get experience,” De La Rosa said.

The schedule for the boys team is yet to be finalized and is pending.