There will likely be seven or eight girls volleyball teams in Section V this season with boys playing right along side the girls, setting, digging and maybe even spiking.
One of those boys may play for Batavia High School.
It's a growing trend, said Ed Stores, executive director for Section V.
"Last year a couple of schools had boys on them and this year there may be seven or eight," Stores said. "It's a concern that it's taking off a little bit. Unless the state education department gives us a little more guidance, there could be more."
State athletic rules allow for girls to play boys sports and boys to play girls sports so long as there is "no significant adverse effect," Stores said.
Right now, Section V interprets the rule to mean no girls are cut from the squad to make room for the boy.
If a boy were 6' 4" or 6' 5", that might fall under "no significant adverse effect," Stores said, but the state hasn't given regional athletic directors enough guidance to know for sure.
There is currently no protocol -- because the issue hasn't come up yet -- on what to do if a boy makes a team and just dominates games. Stores said if that happened, Section V officials would review the situation and determine whether there is a "significant adverse impact."
Mike Bromley, athletic director for BHS, said the boy and his father do not want to be part of any media coverage right now. Since the last step for the boy making the team -- final Section V approval -- won't take place, if it does, until tomorrow, Bromley declined to release the student's name (he anticipates approval, however)
The student was required to go through a review process at the school that determined that he would be able to compete without undue advantage, Bromley said.
"It's not automatic for a boy to be on the team," Bromley said. "If we think it disadvantages the female athletics then we have to look at it differently."
The youth won't be the first boy to compete in a girls sport at BHS, Bromley said. Last year a senior was on the girl's gymnastics team, though he didn't compete for points. He just participated in meets.
"He was really good at floor exercises," Bromley said.
The gymnasts participated, Bromley said, just because he enjoyed the sport. He wasn't trying to prepare himself for a gymnastics career in college.
There have been girls over the years who have played boys hockey, wrestling, lacross and one girl, whose ability was so advanced, played boys tennis.
Bromley described the local male volleyball player as somebody who just really enjoys the sport and wants a chance to participate.
It got a lot of attention from BHS students last year when Pittsford Mendon's volleyball team showed up with a boy on the team.
"They had a kid who was a setter who was pretty good," Bromley said. "The kids who went to the game were, 'wow, boys can do that.' I think that got them thinking about it."
Stores said there's something to seeing other boys play volleyball that helps remove the stigma, which helps encourage them to try out for the team.
In the first season after the summer Olympics, there may also be a heightened interest in volleyball among male athletes.
But there isn't enough interest yet, Bromley said, to create a separate team for boys.
Stores said in this day and age schools simply don't have the money to add more athletic teams.
"I think there are a lot of boys who want to play," Stores said. "But there aren't a lot of schools out there that are going to be adding sports."
