Utah Adds Boys' Volleyball As Sanctioned HS Sport

The Utah High School Activities Association announced Thursday that the Board of Trustees has voted to sanction boys' volleyball, which will begin in the 2023-24 school year. UHSAA said competition will begin in the spring 2024 season. 

“We’re very excited about seeing a new group of kids get to compete for a Utah state championship under our umbrella,” UHSAA assistant director Jon Oglesby said, according to the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah. “We think it’s going to be a positive addition to the association’s sanctioned activities and will be a good thing for kids moving forward.”

The Standard-Examiner reported that boys' volleyball sanctioning has been discussed for years and was initially up for a vote in a May 2020 board meeting, but sanctioning was postponed at the time because of uncertainties in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, a motion to sanction boys' volleyball for the 2022-23 school year failed 8-5.

According to NFHS participation statistics, 25 states were participating in sanctioned boys' volleyball in 2018-19.

It’s the fifth sport the UHSAA has added to sanctioned competition since 2016, joining boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, girls wrestling, and competitive cheerleading, the Standard-Examiner reported. Cheerleading will host its first sanctioned state championship in the 2022-23 school year.