This disparity is due to the fact that high schools in the state of Indiana don't have men's volleyball in their varsity programs and therefore students don't really pick up the sport like they do basketball or football.
What Indiana does have is men's club programs and that gives guys the exposure to the sport of volleyball but somebody has to volunteer their time to coach the club teams. Of course, it's not the same experiences as playing in a sponsored varsity program.
| Joel Walton looks for his team to surprise a lot of people this season. |
There are several states around the Midwest that have varsity men's volleyball in their high school programs such as: Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Indiana has a small amount of high schools following this trend, but it is growing in the state.
"States that have it are spotted throughout the United States, so a lot of guys haven't been playing," said Men's Volleyball Coach Joel Walton.(see bio)
High school volleyball in Indiana needs to keep growing at the club level so that enough schools can see the success and they go out and sponsor men's volleyball as a varsity sport and that in turn will lead to the state of Indiana to start sanctioning it as a varsity sport.
"They need to be more and more opportunities for the boys to play in Indiana high schools," said Walton.
This scarce number of volleyball players in Indiana leaves no option to Walton but to go out of state and recruit its players. The team looks for guys with good volleyball experience so they can compete at the high quality of the Ball State program against nationally ranked opponents.
Such an example of this athletes can be seen in the play of Puerto Ricans Jary Delgado and Luis Castera(see related story) who have been playing volleyball since their early teenage years and have traveled all over the United States and Latin America representing their country.
When the Athletic Department wanted to cut the Men's Volleyball team this past summer one thing they held against the program is that there are no varsity programs in Indiana high schools.
"Because of recruiting out of state, people all over the nation know about the Ball State Men's Volleyball program,"said Walton.
The team has a bright future and Walton hopes that more Indiana players will come and join the Ball State program since the team and its players are great ambassadors for the university.
| Indiana | 1 |
| Out of State | 12 |
| International | 1 |
| Ball State Sports |
| Volleyball Hall of Fame |