Shelbyville High School boys volleyball coach Vince Bradburn reflects on the program’s inaugural year with a sense of satisfaction and appreciation.

“I cannot say enough good things about our players and the effort they gave this season,” said Bradburn, the program’s first varsity coach. “The guys decided they wanted this to be more than a ‘rec’ league and worked all year with that idea in mind. They wanted to represent Shelbyville to the best of their abilities.”

The first-year contingent spent this week preparing for the program’s sectional tournament which will held Saturday at Southport High School.

The Golden Bears, 5-6 this season, will face the host school in the opening contest of the four-team event. Southport currently has a record of 19-10 and is No. 8 in the state rankings. Franklin Central (21-9) and Indianapolis Lutheran (10-5) will compete in the opposite bracket.

Boys volleyball is classified by the Indiana High School Athletic Association as an “emerging sport,” as opposed to a “fully sanctioned” sport. Seventy-five of the IHSAA’s 407 member institutions fielded boys volleyball teams for the 2022-23 school year.

Sixty eight schools will participate in this year’s post season tournament.

The Shelbyville team opened the season against veteran program in Heritage Christian with a home match and quickly found itself behind 6-0 in the opening set.

“I called a quick timeout,” said Bradburn. “We settled down and even though we lost in three sets, became more competitive.”

Shelbyville placed runner-up in an invitational tournament at Blue River Valley three weeks later. The Bears won their pool play round by recording victories over Purdue Polytechnic and Lawrence North before losing a rematch in the championship encounter against Heritage Christian.

“You could see definite improvement in that short time when we played Heritage Christian again,” stated Bradburn.

In addition to Heritage Christian, the Bears faced off against tradition-rich boys volleyball programs Madison and Franklin.

“Franklin invited us to play on an evening when they celebrated their program’s 20^th anniversary,” said Bradburn. “They recognized members of their first team from 2003 that night. I think seeing the importance of that tradition inspired our guys. They understood that they could be laying that foundation here.”

Bradburn was introduced to volleyball while in college at Indiana State.

“There were outdoor volleyball courts right by my dorm,” said Bradburn.

He became involved with the women’s program, assisting in various ways such as line judging.

“The coach took me under his wing and taught me about the sport,” said Bradburn. “My interest and love for it continued to develop.”

Bradburn cites Shelbyville senior Jackson Parker for his exceptional leadership this season.

“Jackson has worked hard to learn the game and leads by example. He is an excellent athlete and very team-oriented,” said Bradburn.

 Junior Jayion Grice came to the program with some club volleyball experience.

 “Jayion was an outside hitter for us and was instrumental to our improvement during the season”, said Bradburn.

Freshman Diego Hernandez was the team’s setter, however Bradburn declared that, “He did not play like a freshman. He was very consistent all year.”

Bradburn was pleased that the program was able to schedule a junior varsity contest this season as well: “Players put in a great deal of time practicing so it was nice to get a JV game scheduled so more people had an opportunity to play more.”

This first Golden Bear boys volleyball squad was senior laden with eight seniors (photo) – Parker, Shiv Patel, Brayden Jones, Al Hernandez, Christian Haas, Jack Johnson, Carson Linville and Riley Fortune -- on the 14-person roster.

Nathaniel Juniper served as assistant coach this season.

“We truly appreciate the community making us feel welcome and supporting us during this first year,” said Bradburn. “We look forward to the challenge this weekend at the Southport sectional.”   

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