IHSAA, or other known as Indiana High School Athletic Association, has now recognized Boys Volleyball as one of their male sports in the 2024-2025 school year.

Beforehand, Hamilton Southeastern Boys Volleyball was not a fully recognized sport, but rather was classified as an “emerging sport” alongside Hamilton Southeastern women’s volleyball. This addition is more important than assumed, as It’s not only an official recognition toward all the hard work Boys volleyball teams put in, but it has other benefits. It takes many positive effects on teams like promotes interscholastic athletes within Indiana, ensuring fair play, focusing on student-athlete well-being, including a tournament series, and the big effect, which is the fact that it’s now official.

As this new IHSAA Sport season kicks off, Brandon LeJeune shares some words on what he’s going to improve this season, and ultimately what he’s excited for. He exclaims that some things he’s excited for is “playing with my teammates, getting better, and having a good time.”

As some of these varsity athletes will be playing in this now individualized IHSAA for another season or two, some will only get this experience once. Most players on the varsity team are seniors, meaning that they aren’t only stepping into IHSAA with the rest of their team, but also having that step leave a footprint. Senior Cooper McIntosh wishes “to leave behind a good work ethic [and] making sure everyone works hard in the gym”.  He also states how he hopes and encourages “that all the kids younger than me can take that [legacy] from me.”

HSAA making Boys volleyball an individually classified sport is more than just a title. It’s an accomplishment, point of pride, opening of opportunities, point of recognition, pride, building of a community, and so much more.