SHS currently offers 19 sports but only 17 of them are IHSAA sanctioned. Boys volleyball and boy’s lacrosse are the only two that have yet to be sanctioned.

Since boy’s volleyball is not sanctioned by the IHSAA, they are not considered a school sport. They are considered a club sport.

“If you’re not sanctioned, you have to be called a club (sport),like us or lacrosse,” boy’s volleyball coach Joe Leonard said.

Leonard believes that the primary reason that they are not yet sanctioned is because only about 30 schools in indiana have boys volleyball teams. He also says that the number of schools with a  team has not changed much in the last ten years. To be sanctioned he says many more schools will have to create teams.

Because there are so few teams, they have to go to large tournaments to play non-indianapolis area teams. There are often eight to 10 teams at these tournaments.

“We have tournaments where they’ll get (some) teams together on a Saturday and we’ll play all day,” Leonard said.

Because they are not sanctioned, they do not receive money from the school. They do get a little money from the adult booster club, but not enough to support their team. That means they have to raise money themselves.

The often raise money by having fundraisers or by charging players money to play on the team. This money is used for uniforms and other team expenses. They also work at concession stands to earn money for the team.

“We do fundraisers or students just pay a fee. We get a little bit of money because we work concession stands like the other sports do,” Leonard said.