Volleyball making gains with boys

SANDY — When Jake Daniel told his friends he was playing club volleyball, they had a question for him.

"They found out we mostly practiced with girls, and they asked, 'Do you get to wear spandex, too?"' the 15-year-old middle hitter said with a laugh.

His teammate, Christian "Swish" Wiscombe, smiled and admitted, "There is a little teasing sometimes."

But it's worth it for the boys who make up the Club Utah 16-and-under team because these boys have seen what's possible with volleyball. They all come from volleyball families and, well, if there is a volleyball gene, they have it. What they possess, for sure, is an understanding and respect for a game that is not known as a men's sport in Utah.

"What I want (my son) to have is a big picture of volleyball," said one of the team's coaches, Mike Daniel, who also coaches the Salt Lake Community College women's team as well as a girls Club Utah team. "This is a real sport. I want him to see this."

This is the 2008 USA Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships, which are under way at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy. On Saturday, the 18-year-old teams finished their tournament, and on Sunday the 17-year-olds started theirs. For a volleyball aficionado, it is heaven — even if the matches don't always finish in their favor.

"Most of the teams we've played have played somewhere between 10 and 15 tournaments as a pre-cursor for this, and they've been playing together for years as established programs," said the squad's other coach, Jim Bendtschneider. "We're not an established program."

In fact, while every member of the Club Utah 16s team has played volleyball because of their parents and/or siblings, the actual team just formed in anticipation of the national tournament being held in Utah. Both coaches are involved in programs that are loosely affiliated with high school communities — although they must use city names to identify themselves, not the names of the high schools they attend — and say that, ever so slowly, the perception of men's volleyball is changing.

"It is growing," said Mike Daniel, who is an accomplished player himself. "It's a lot bigger than it was three years ago."

And while individuals are seduced by the sport, it has yet to gain widespread support.