Highlands considers girls volleyball program at middle school

Highlands School Board will vote at its regular meeting Monday on whether to create a girls volleyball program at Highlands Middle School.

The board agreed to place the proposal on next week’s agenda after hearing a presentation from Athletic Director Drew Karpen.

Karpen said that the creation of a middle school program, besides creating more opportunity for physical activity among students, would ultimately improve the varsity program at the high school as more female students become exposed to the sport and learn to play the game.

“We’d like that development to happen at the middle school level like the other sports,” Karpen said.

Highlands has softball, basketball and track programs for female middle school students.

When asked if there was sufficient interest among the students to support a volleyball program, he mentioned the volleyball camp being held this month and next month under the supervision of varsity/junior varsity head coach Caroline Bain. He said 30 students had registered for the camp.

“We definitely have kids interested in joining the program,” Karpen said.

He said the uniforms and equipment would be purchased through donations and fundraising by the boosters club.

The teams the middle schoolers would compete against are from schools in the immediate area so any travel expenses would be minimal, he said.

“The only thing we would have to add is a coaching stipend,” Karpen said.

None of the six board members participating in the meeting raised any objections to the proposal and at least one endorsed it.

“I definitely support it,” board member Debbie Beale said. “If we learned anything from Covid, it’s that inactivity isn’t good for anybody.”