If you were to ask any student about Garfield sports, they probably wouldn’t mention the boys volleyball team. We don’t have one right?

Sorry, that’s just not the case anymore. Garfield has a new sports club thanks to seniors Joey Shaw and Noah Cohn.

“It’s too bad we started the team this year,” said Shaw. “If I knew starting a club was this easy, I would have done it freshman year.”

To both Shaw’s and Cohn’s surprise, many guys showed up to the first day of practice, which was led by the girls volleyball coaches Jack and Leslie Hamann with the assistance of some members of the girls team such Alexandra Ndegwa, Erica Jornlin, Shantea Cardenas, Emily Fletcher, and Carly Tsutakawa.

The team didn’t start tryouts right away because many of the players did not understand the basics and how the game is played.

“We need a lot of work,” said Shaw. “Many people think that you just have to hit the ball but it is far more complicated than that. You need to know how to rotate the ball around.”

Many feel that having a boys volleyball team is long overdue, but Coach Jack Hamann points out that having an unequal amount of girls and boys sports goes against Title IX.

“Right now, Garfield has an unequal amount of sports, so boys volleyball is just a club,” said Hamann. “I would love to see more sports at Garfield, it would make the community come together.”

Coach Jack Hamann is not sure whether he’ll be the head coach or will he share the position with his wife Leslie.

“Leslie knows about the game of volleyball far more than I do,” said Jack. “I still learn from her.”

Either way, Coach Jack Hamann is excited about the new club.

“I’m very excited not only for Garfield high school and the players,” said Hamann, “but for the community as well.”

Coach Jack Hamann describes the boys first week of practice as “The week of adjustment.”

“The guys came out very excited, hitting the ball any and everywhere, until I had to teach them the mental part of the game.” Hamann said. “Volleyball is a very powerful and quick game. What makes volleyball such a fast-paced game is that there is no one person handling the ball like a quarterback in football, or point guard in basketball, but in volleyball the ball can come to anyone at any given time.”

Besides the boys having to learn six different playing positions before playing in a game format, the biggest adjustment came from learning how to play with volleyball nets that are taller than they are used to playing with.

Coach Jack Hamann explains that most of the guys are used to playing with the girls, but the girls play with a net that is approximately half a foot taller than girls’ nets.

“The guys aren’t use to hitting the ball over that high, so we still need some more practice,” said Hamann.

With only a week’s practice, the boys’ drive towards improvement has hit a standstill, as the boys are struggling to find locations to practice because the Garfield gym is used for basketball.

“We are searching for gyms that have time slots open in which we are able to practice on a routine or perhaps a daily basis,” said Shaw.

It is not certain whether the Garfield community will get the chance to see the boys volleyball team compete against other teams, due to the lack of practice, experience, and other schools with a competing boys volleyball team.

“There are a few teams such as Roosevelt, Mercer Island, Ingraham, and other private schools [that have boys volleyball teams],” Shaw said.

“Our main goal is to get this club going,” said Cohn, “and to get more people involved in volleyball.”

Coach Jack Hamann said that the boys will see some game experience sometime this year.

“There are a few club teams that will hold some high school age based tournaments,” said Hamann. “Leslie and myself would like to give the boys some game experience.”

Though it may seem that the future of the boy’s volleyball team is in a cloud of uncertainty, Garfield fans should prepare themselves for some new excitement and a new legend of Garfield sports getting ready to unfold.