By Isabelle Emmanuel, Staff Reporter
With a loud smack, a player spikes the volleyball over the net and onto the ground, causing an eruption of cheers from one side of the net. “Great shot!” one of the coaches patrolling the gym says.
Ka-Hoots is an instructional program which Conestoga students run that helps middle schoolers in grades five through eight who are interested in learning about volleyball or want to improve their skills. Historically, the girls’ volleyball team had led Ka-Hoots, which invited players of all genders to come to sessions. However, this year marked the first year of a boys-only Ka-Hoots program led by the boys’ volleyball team.
Junior Aiden Lin, co-captain of the boys’ volleyball team, helps organize drills and instruct each Ka-Hoots practice. Lin believes boys volleyball is underrepresented, and wants to bring more attention to the sport.
“Volleyball is one of the most popular sports around the world, for both men and women, but in the United States and our area specifically, there are more girls playing volleyball than boys,” Lin said. “The boys’ Ka-Hoots program is doing a lot to fight this because we are opening doors to boys who might think volleyball is a girl’s sport and taking away the stigma that boys can’t play volleyball.”
Ka-Hoots runs after school from 6-8 p.m. in the large gym at TEMS on Thursdays and occurred six times total in the months of December and January. The program is open to a variety of participants but most players are beginners. Each lesson helps students learn fundamentals of volleyball like passing, setting, hitting and serving. After practicing these, they work on ball control drills and typically end the day with scrimmages.
Brothers Isaac and Duncan Phipps, sixth and eighth graders at TEMS, had never played volleyball before joining Ka-Hoots.
“When we’ll be learning a new skill, (the high schoolers) will walk around and show us if we’re doing something wrong and how we can do it correctly,” Duncan Phipps said.
Volleyball coach Alex Weaver played Division I mens volleyball at Penn State and has taught the sport for years at summer camps. This year was his first time coaching the Ka-Hoots program.
“The high schoolers are definitely committed to the program,” Weaver said. “They’re donating two hours of their night every Thursday, and I know they’re very busy with school and other things. It shows their commitment level, which I think is great.”
Lin enjoys working with the middle schoolers and seeing the progress they have made.
“It has meant a lot to me to see these kids improve and know that I had a role in that,” Lin said. “It is a sport that I’m so deeply interested and involved in, so hopefully they will find a love for the game similar to the one I have. I’ve personally become acquainted with the kids, and they’re all a lot of fun. It’s been really wholesome for me to see how far they have come in their volleyball journey.”
Isabelle Emmanuel can be reached at [email protected].
