Boys’ Volleyball Bucks Trend : Participation Rising Fast, While Other Sports Try to Hold Line

Ardyce Masters considers herself a pioneer when it comes to coaching volleyball.

The physical education teacher started the girls’ volleyball program at Canyon High of Canyon Country in 1970. She took part in the sport’s rapid growth as it became the most popular girls’ competition.

But that rise was minor compared to the one Masters has helped along in the last five years. Since she formed a boys’ volleyball squad at the school in 1987, Masters said, participation has quadrupled.

“What started out as a club team of a dozen boys from my P.E. class, has been transformed into a two-team program with 60 players,” Masters said. “It basically exploded overnight.”

Boys’ volleyball has enjoyed similar growth throughout the rest of the state. In a recent participation survey by the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school athletics, volleyball is the fastest-growing varsity sport for boys. In the past six years, the number of schools offering the sport has more than doubled.

The figures are startling when it is noted that the CIF has enjoyed limited growth since its last participation survey in 1985-86, mainly because of budget cuts that have hit the state’s education system.

“Volleyball is a sport we should have had a long time ago,” Masters said. “It’s very popular in Southern California, and I don’t know what took it so long to catch on in high schools.”

Stan Thomas, Southern Section commissioner, said volleyball is attractive to administrators because it is a low-maintenance sport that costs very little to get started. He said that because it is played indoors, schools can also charge admission to matches to help cover expenses.

Not all of the survey’s results were as encouraging.

Based on responses from the CIF’s 1,133 member schools, there were 462,000 students participating in athletics this past year, an 8% increase from six years ago. But those athletes participated on 329 fewer teams, a 2% decrease.

“Budget cuts have taken a toll on many programs,” said Margaret Davis, CIF associate commissioner. “We obviously hope this is one trend that will be reversed.”

Davis and Thomas Byrnes, CIF commissioner, acknowledge that the 1990s will be a difficult time for athletics. They say they would be happy simply to maintain current participation levels.

School officials share the sentiment. In the same survey, athletic directors listed financial concerns as their main worry for the rest of the decade.

“Right now, we’re very tied in with the general education system,” Byrnes said. “If it’s hurting, so are we.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s 50 high schools have been among the hardest hit financially. The City Section’s budget has been slashed the last two years, forcing officials to eliminate many freshman and junior varsity programs.

The elimination of many lower-level teams might explain why some varsity sports increased in number of athletes while decreasing in number of programs.

Football, for example, remains the most popular sport in the CIF, with 78,873 participants--a 6% increase--last season. But with 39 fewer CIF schools offering the sport than was the case six years ago, the number of athletes per team has skyrocketed.

Baseball, boys’ and girls’ cross-country, track and field, and basketball all had similar trends of more athletes on fewer teams.

As expected, numbers were up more for girls than boys. There were 162,000 females in sports this past year, up 15% from 1985-86.

Volleyball, track and field, softball and basketball all rated close to the top as the most popular sport for girls. Soccer, however, was the fastest-growing with a 34% increase in participants, followed by swimming, up 22%.

Participation in boys’ sports was up 6% to 300,000, with football accounting for one-quarter of those athletes.

Volleyball was by far the fastest-growing sport for boys, followed by eight-man football with a 24% increase. Soccer was only the fifth fastest-growing sport with a 9% jump.

Thomas said soccer has reached saturation levels in the Southern Section, and he expects limited growth in the coming years.

Field hockey and boys’ and girls’ gymnastics continued their decline and are on the verge of elimination.

Byrnes does not expect the CIF to add any new sports in the near future.

“Our $64 question is what is going to happen with all of these numbers in the next six years?” Byrnes said. “We’re all sitting on pins and needles with continued budget cuts. We’re definitely facing some tough times ahead.”

One problem the CIF plans to attack is the great disparity between male coaches--20,848--and female coaches--4,782--in the state. The nearly 5-1 ratio was worse than expected.

“The lack of qualified female coaches is of particular concern to us,” Davis said. “More efforts need to be made in this area.”

State CIF Comparison Chart

Number of Participants in selected sports (1985-86 vs. 1991-92) 1985-86

Sport Boys Girls Basketball 32,410 33,523 Cross-Country 15,421 9,147 Football (11-man) 74,041 39* Soccer 24,245 12,398 Swimming 13,283 14,136 Tennis 12,866 12,689 Track and Field 31,978 19,643 Volleyball 5,779 22,048

1991-92

Sport Boys Girls Basketball 33,523 22,897 Cross-Country 15,236 9,916 Football (11-man) 78,873 14* Soccer 26,466 16,597 Swimming 12,898 17,282 Tennis 14,434 14,717 Track and Field 34,303 23,774 Volleyball 8,590 24,578

*Whenever a school provides only a team for boys in a particular sport, girls may attempt to qualify for the student team.