BRUNSWICK

Last year, Drew Weaver walked onto the basketball court at Brunswick High School unsure of what he was getting himself into.

The school was experimenting with a new program, girls volleyball, and Weaver worried that no one was going to show up, much less know what a set, spike, overhand serve, meant in the long scheme of things.

“There were a lot of athletes that showed up that first morning,” remembered Weaver, who has seen the program grow to 30 Brunswick athletes, with another eight-to-10 student athletes making the short drive from Mt. Ararat High School to join in, in year two of a club sport at Brunswick. “It has been a fantastic experience. It was so interesting to see how a program can be formed by the interest of a few players and continue to grow.”

And, first-year BHS athletic director Jeff Ramich is pushing for more, with plans to request that the Maine Principals’ Association forgo the third required year of a program playing as a club sport before becoming varsity.

“My goal is to get Brunswick High School a volleyball team,” said Ramich. “There is definite interest here. Yes, it is typically a three-year wait from club to varsity, however because our numbers are up there, we are going to ask the board to put girls volleyball into the budget. And, we have reached out to Mt. Ararat to share in this if they want to.”

“I believe that we laid the groundwork for a very good co-op experience for our athletes,” said Mt. Ararat AD Todd Sampson. “I had a great relationship with (previous Brunswick AD) Gene Keene and now Jeff, and the way we look at it is that times are tough and how can we work together to provide more opportunities to our students? In this instance, sharing resources has made this happen, and at the end of the day, we are impressed with the interest at both schools.”

Raw talent

That first day for Weaver, who played club volleyball at Saint Mary’s College in Maryland and has coached at several different levels since, was all about the basics, a process that continues today.

“For these girls, it was completely brand new, and it has taken some time to introduce the rules along with game techniques,” said Weaver, who co-coached this year with Julie Smith, former Bowdoin College baseball pitcher and current Dragons softball coach Luke Potter, and Bowdoin women’s volleyball coach Karen Corey. “I remember asking simple questions, like how many players are on the court at one time during a volleyball match (the answer is six)? I would receive a variety of answers. They are learning from the start, which is great because the players haven’t developed bad habits. They are so eager to learn, and every practice is met with big smiles from the players.

“In Maryland, soccer and volleyball are two of the top sports in high school. No girls hockey, and girls lacrosse is a second tier sport. Not in Maine. Volleyball is still a rather new sport that is growing by leaps and bounds. Where I grew up, we played volleyball 11 months a year.”

Girls volleyball in Maine began in the northern parts of the state, with the first Class A champion crowned in 1997 when Jonesport-Beals downed Narraguagus, 3-0. Jonesport- Beals won the next two titles with wins over Woodland, and Woodland claimed the championship the next three years, including a 2002 3-2 victory over southern emerging power Greely.

Since then, 10 of the past 11 Class A champions have come from southern Maine, with Greely winning eight of nine titles (2003-2008, 2011- 12), and Biddeford rolling to the championship in 2010. Calais defeated Washington Academy, 3-2 in 2009, and Falmouth took home the trophy this year with a 3-1 win over topseeded Scarborough.

In 2010, there were enough teams for the MPA to establish Class B girls volleyball, with Washington winning the prize in 2010 and ’12, and Yarmouth capturing titles in 2011 along with this year’s 3-2 victory over Washington.

“It’s great volleyball, especially in the south, where Greely, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Scarborough are always good,” said Ramich. “There is a pocket in the Mid-coast that doesn’t have the sport yet. You have to go north to Gardiner and Cony to find teams.”

“We took 27 girls up to Gardiner for a scrimmage, and they were able to watch prior to the game the drills the Gardiner girls did to get ready for a match,” said Smith, who teaches at Wiscasset Christian Academy and works with her young volleyballplaying daughters, Aleeya, 11, and Madison, 8. “Aleeya has played for a high performance team out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and is on the Maine Junior Team, the youngest on her team.”

Smith has been impressed by the dedication at Brunswick.

“For eight to 10 weeks, not one girl dropped out, 40 girls from Brunswick and Mt. Ararat practicing to get better,” said Smith. “They all have a passion for volleyball, and most say they will be back next year. We have the numbers to field both a varsity and jayvee team next year.”

Still, Smith feels it will take a few seasons to learn the basics of playing competitive matches.

“The talent here is impressive, but we still have a lot to learn,” said Smith, who during a practice worked with her players on overhand serves, setting and spiking, sending several hard spikes at Aleeya, who routinely “dug” the ball an inch from the gym floor, amazing the still learning high school athletes. “It can take a season to learn an overhand serve, but these girls practice on their own and have come in soon after the lesson was taught and are doing it. We scrimmaged teams from Sanford, Portland, Oxford Hills and Madison that are also looking to join varsity down the road, and we learned a lot.”

“I love it, and it is one of the best sports to play,” said Brunswick senior Sasha Hampton. “My senior year, I just wanted to come out, do something and have fun. It’s fun playing matches, but we don’t have as much talent as some of the teams that have been playing for a little while. Separately, we have a lot of talent, but we have to put it together as a team. To be a varsity sport, we just have to keep practicing, get better and have even more girls come out to play. As long as we are serious about it, becoming a varsity sport instead of a club will happen one day.”

“I love volleyball,” added Brunswick junior Ashley Howe. “I got into it originally because my softball coach (Potter) was going to be one of the coaches, and it was another chance to compete. I don’t play a fall sport, so this was a good opportunity for me to come out.

“We need to practice more and become more competitive as a team in practice before we can go out into a big competition setting like varsity sports is. This sport is way different than just playing around with your friends at the beach. There are a lot of rules, and the positions, the rotation. It is a lot to learn in a short time.”

Tiffany Jackson is one of 10 Eagles who participated in the program at Brunswick.

“This was a great opportunity for me to play a sport in ninth grade, and volleyball just sounded like a lot of fun,” said Jackson. “It would be cool one day for girls volleyball to be played at Mt. Ararat. I still have to work on a lot of stuff, and I like being at the net and having the chance to spike.”

“It’s a great opportunity for our girls,” said Ramich. “It is a sport that is a lifelong activity. I want to introduce lifelong sports, push running, track, swimming and volleyball.”

“For right now, we are planning on continuing our partnership with Brunswick, but the numbers are certainly healthy on both sides, so I believe if the interest grows that one day we will have a jayvee team and then a varsity squad,” said Sampson. “Volleyball as a fall sport is a perfect fit. The gym is available and the athletes are interested.”

“In scrimmages, they got to see how to execute a gameplan, six girls working together. This is certainly a great opportunity to expose these kids to a great sport like volleyball,” added Weaver.