A historic year is at an end for Panther volleyball.
Between JV and varsity girls’ conference titles and the new boys club team’s inaugural season, Franklin volleyball czar Bekah Brooks has had a busy 2023-24. After a 4-3 regular season and a trip to the state playoffs, Brooks says the team ushered in a new era for Panther athletics.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for our school, and for guys in the spring,” she said. “They were so fun, they were a different vibe, and they were very compassionate and caring toward me and Coach Cindy [Harrell, who lost just a single match as JV head coach last fall]. When they came in they worked hard and they made it fun for sure, so I can’t say how awesome it was enough to just see them stick it out.”
Formed in 2016 by Charlotte-area coach Sarah Conklin, the N.C. Boys High School Volleyball Association has grown exponentially, expanding from 48 teams statewide last year to more than 100 this spring. Representing the nation’s fastest-growing men’s high school sport, the team drew interest from plenty of talented athletes.
“At the very first meeting in January we had 38 boys show interest, which I knew was going to decrease,” said Brooks. “At the very first workout we had 20, and from there we kept a consistent number of 13 to 14. … We did have three athletes that we were sharing, so obviously their team sport, which was track comes first, and I was in full agreeance with that. There were quite a few times where we didn’t have them at practice, but we [always] had them at the games.”
As men’s volleyball has not yet been sanctioned as a varsity sport by the N.C. High School Athletic Association, the spring season had a kind of fledgling quality for Brooks’ team, which featured athletes from five different Panther varsity squads. Aside from teaching a brand new sport to much of the roster, Brooks said she had to tailor her coaching style to the male teenage brain.
“I will say, coaching boys and girls is much different,” she said. “Neither one is good or bad, but I’m just used to coaching my girls like I coach my girls. Not that you can’t coach boys that way, because I think I could, but coaching boys in a sport that they know nothing about but think they know something about was very hard. There was a lot of, ‘I think I know what I’m doing,’ but you don’t really know what you’re doing, and I’m trying to help you. It’s just boys trying to get over that ‘I know everything’ mentality, and they’re just being boys.”
While starting a brand new club team is not without its growing pains – including fundraising, disjointed league organization and lack of enforceable academic standards – Brooks says she managed the team exactly as if they were a varsity squad. With more schools forming teams every year across the state, momentum is building to petition the NCHSAA to recognize men’s volleyball as an official sport.
“We got word that you have to [sustain] the numbers … which is one hundred-and-whatever teams. You have to sustain that for two years, and then they’ll sanction it as a sport,” said Brooks. “[They were] telling everybody that they need to come back and join again, and possibly [recruit] more, then the next year they would make it a sport.”
In attempting to join women’s wrestling as just the second new NCHSAA-sanctioned sport since lacrosse was added in 2009-2010, the NCBHSVA has sought to expand their league as much as possible. Following the first-ever men’s volleyball season in Franklin High School history, Brooks says she’s happy to offer another constructive outlet for students.
“They did well. There was lots of growth there, both as individuals and as a team,” she said. “I think we’ll see more interest if other boys understand that there’s another option. If you don’t like to run or jump in track, or you don’t like to play baseball, then there is another option. … There’s always something to be done to better yourself and to better your school.”