Serving up fun at North Union

RICHWOOD – The inaugural year of North Union's boys volleyball team was a success, as far as coach Peggy Curts is concerned. The squad, now 2-9, will travel to Thomas Worthington on Friday for its season finale.

"We've gone out to the big schools and competed," said Curts, who has coached girls volleyball on an off for 12 years. She also teaches marketing and business at North Union in addition to her duties as the assistant athletic director for the Division III Wildcats.

"Our goal is to be self-sustaining, not be a 'one and done' program. And we want to grow the sport in our conference. It would be nice if we didn't have to drive 45 minutes to a game," Curts said.

The idea for a boys team first came from a transfer student, Austin Dixon, who played volleyball at Westerville Central.

"We stage a girls powder-puff football game and a boys volleyball game as part of our annual fall homecoming activities. It's very popular, getting the girls playing football and the boys playing volleyball. Dixon was in my marketing class, and asked 'Why couldn't we have a boys team here?' His interest prompted us to research the idea; figuring out how to promote it, who our target audience was, if it was financially feasible," Curts said.

Not OHSAA sanctioned

The class discovered boys volleyball wasn't sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, and that no team existed in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, where the Wildcats compete in OHSAA sports. Delaware Hayes was the closest team. The Columbus area had quite a few programs, but many were at Division I schools with big athletic budgets and a larger pool of potential athletes.

Curts felt boys would be interested in coming out for the team, but the idea of a new team might not be popular with other spring sports coaches, who sometimes struggle to fill rosters at smaller schools.

The Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association is the governing body for the sport in Ohio. They collect scores and records and post them on the OHSBVA website, and organize an end-of-season tournament at Capital University on Memorial Day weekend.

"The OHSBVA would like boys volleyball to become a sanctioned sport. They want to see the sport grow, so they offered us a $1,000 grant," said Curts, who had to make a presentation to two principals, the athletic director and the district superintendent to approve the club.

"Being the assistant athletic director helped. Being a coach helped, too," said Curts, who won approval for the first season as a club sport.

Clubs sports aren't provided school buses for transportation, a major expense for any sport. The boys would use all the equipment on hand for the girls team (the net stands at 8-feet for the boys, compared to 7-feet-4 inches for girls). The North Union Athletic Boosters donated $1,000 for team uniforms. Parents of the players provide transportation to away games. The team must pay for referees from gate receipts.

But can they play?

"It was something new, and I wanted to try it. It sounded exciting. But the first couple of weeks, we didn't know what we were doing," said Jon Stillings, a senior cross country runner who, along with fellow distance runner Lucas Michael, came out for volleyball instead of track.

"Track and cross country are very small teams. They were very disappointed we didn't come out," Stillings said. "But no regrets. They would be surprised how much fun it is."

"Plus, it took zero conditioning for us," Michael said.

Following success

North Union athletes expect to win. The school's athletic programs have enjoyed success in football, baseball, girl's volleyball and basketball for girls and boys. So starting a new program was humbling for kids used to MOAC championships.

"We didn't know what we were getting into," said C.J. Tadlock, a senior and four-year football player. It didn't help the team had to schedule Division I powerhouses in order to fill out its schedule.

"It's pretty daunting to walk into a place like Dublin Jerome, and they've got a freshman, junior varsity and varsity team, and we suit up nine guys," Curts said.

"The teams we played, they just drilled it," said Stillings, describing the speed and power of the offenses.

"It's not that easy. We were so wrong," Stiller said.

"The first thing I had to do was squash the idea that this is backyard volleyball," Curts recalled of their initial practices. "These guys would come to the girls games, just to watch the games, or watch the girls, or to be social. They didn't realize there was an offense. There was a defense. There are plays and positions, but they would run to the ball," Curts said.

Volleyball played at a high level looks like a tightly choreographed dance. Passers must be precise and cover a specific area. Blockers must read the opposing passers and anticipate where and when a hitter will strike. Passers must adjust to a dominant opposing hitter during a match, and adjust accordingly. When the libero (defensive specialist) enters the match, the other defenders yield coverage space to him. There's a constant din of chatter.

"Communication is huge in this sport," said Tadlock, "You're talking constantly with your teammates. And there's lot's of timing and setting up the ball for someone else. In the backyard, you just run up and one-hit the thing."

"The game is very fast paced. It's important how you touch the ball. We gave up a lot of points on double hits in our first game. The game can turn around very quickly," Stillings said.

Elusive first win

The first win was a turning point for the program and a big relief for the team.

"We were 0-5 going into our match against Licking Heights. The losing was tough. It definitely was the most adversity we've faced. I think we handle it pretty well," Stillings said.

"Warming up, there was a ton of people. This is a good community. They turn out for games and that makes all the difference," said Michael, who added only his parents would show up for his cross-country meets. "It was really a good feeling after that game. All positive energy."

"We worked hard to improve. Since the very first game, we learned we have to be scrappy because we weren't as good as the other teams," Stillings said.

Getting better

The team's steady improvement over the season was very encouraging to its coach, and took the sting out of losing.

"It's a competitive sport, and of course you want to win. But I look at our 2-8 record and consider it very successful. We were going up against big schools with established programs, and even when we lost, we were putting up respectable scores," Curts said.

"The girls have been playing for years. By high school, they're honed in on playing one position to perfect their skill sets. With these guys, it's all brand new. They are really soaking it up.

"As a coach, it's refreshing to have athletes come in and want to know how to get better."

The players consider themselves a family made tighter by dealing with defeat and the shared experiance of trying something completely new together.

"We had to adjust our attitudes about wins and losses. We didn't go into these matches thinking we had to beat these guys. We just wanted to compete," Stillings said.

Curts will sit down with the administration at the end of the season to review the progress of the team and plan for next year. She'd like the to see other boys volleyball teams sprout up in the MOAC. She has reason to be hopeful for the future of the club.

"More and more people are showing up for the games. And I'm hearing positive things. This community really supports our teams. And other schools know that when they host North Union, the gate receipts will be good," Curts said.

As for coaching a boys team, Curts, couldn't be happier. She says they all will earn letters for their participation.

"They improve every time they hit the floor," she said. "And what coach wouldn't want that?"

jsmiller@gannett.com

Twitter: @motionblur56