CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — For the last 4 years, Chillicothe High School has been giving boys an opportunity to participate in volleyball. Established in 2017, with the goal of giving boys another sports outlet, Chillicothe boys volleyball is off to a successful start. Chillicothe currently plays in the West Division 2 of the OHSBVA (Ohio Boys Volleyball Association).

Coach Andrew Vitatoe was involved as an assistant with the girls program in 2016 when he began doing some research on what it would take to also offer volleyball as an option for boys at Chillicothe High School. “I first saw boys volleyball played at the high school level in 1992 when the Chillicothe tennis team had to go inside for a rain delay at Upper Arlington.” After researching boys volleyball, Vitatoe had discussions with the school administration and board. “We began our first season in 2017 with a record of 7-11. Not a bad record for kids that hadn’t ever played volleyball before. In 2018 we went 11-10 on our way to our first district title, and 2019 we finished 15-8.” On top of a successful record, Chillicothe has finished in the state top 5 teams in grades each year of the program.

Boys volleyball is close to being adopted by the OHSAA, but it has been delayed by the Covid pandemic and staff changes at OHSAA. Before the pandemic, boys volleyball had the recommendation of the executive director and the recommendation of the emerging sport committee. Boys Volleyball is the fastest growing sport in high school and college in the US. While boys volleyball isn’t recognized by OHSAA, Chillicothe follows OHSAA rules and operates as a pretty normal school sport. Chillicothe boys volleyball plays 2 to 3 times a week and can only play up to 3 matches a day. They have a varsity and JV squad and the team is structured much more like a school sport than people might think when they hear the term “club volleyball.”

Chillicothe mainly plays schools in the Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati area. Coach Vitatoe is hopeful and looking forward to a time when more schools offer the opportunity for boys volleyball to their students so teams might not have to travel as far for every game.

Currently there are 92 teams for this season, including 8 new teams. Some of the teams come and go depending on staffing since most club sports aren’t paid positions. There are 36 other teams that have been active at one time or aren’t active this season due to Covid. The association is made up of 2 divisions with 4 regions in each division. Chillicothe spent most of the 2019 season ranked in the west region, which is pretty good for a third year program.

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