After many years of playing unsanctioned, the 2025 season marks the first year boys’ volleyball will be an MSHSL-sanctioned sport. According to the Minnesota Boys High School Volleyball website, the proposal for boys’ volleyball to be a high school sport for the 2024-25 school year passed with a vote of 39-7-2. They even recommended the season that the sport would be played- spring. Alice interviewed the current captains of the boys’ volleyball team, Trevor McClenahan, Gydion Larson, and Trystan Yosamp to get their insights.
Starting with Trevor, she asked him why he started to play volleyball. He said that he was inspired by his cousin, who used to play, and that it “looked really fun.” One of his memorable moments from being on the team was placing 5th in the country for their age division at Nationals for his first year playing. Trevor also noted that he was named as “an All-American setter.” Trevor believes that the new MSHSL designation will give volleyball “what it needs to grow into something big.” He said that the sport is already growing fast and that this will provide more resources to create more teams to increase the skill level.
Second, she interviewed Gydion, and started with why he was inspired to start volleyball. He said that his mom “used to play volleyball in high school and then in open gyms when she was older.” His favorite element of the team is how they have “an amazing environment.” He says that everyone is not only incredibly talented but very passionate about volleyball, which makes every match feel exciting. Gydion believes that the MSHSL change will be massive for the sport in the long run. He says that he thinks “it’ll bring much-needed attention to the sport.”
Lastly, she interviewed Tristan who said he was “inspired by watching volleyball during the 2020 Olympics,” and then wanted to try it afterward. He said his most memorable moment was his “first stuff block.” He said that accomplishing the block and having everyone celebrate was an insane feeling to experience. Tristan thinks that the sanctioning of the sport will “encourage even more people to play volleyball and help the sport grow a ton.”
Lastly, some words of advice from the captains for new team members:
Trevor: “..really enjoy playing the sport. I don’t think it’s worth the effort if you aren’t having fun. Volleyball is a game of mistakes and it’s okay to make them, just shake it off and move to the next point.”
Gydion: “Hard work pays off in the end. The game of volleyball is much more in-depth than people think, but if you put in the effort and hard work, you can be great.”
Tristan: “[don’t] get discouraged if you can’t get something right away or aren’t as good as some of the better players yet, as long as you keep working you’ll get there over time.”
Good luck to our boys’ volleyball team at their tournaments this season!
