If there is enough interest, Shelbyville High School will add girls wrestling and boys volleyball to its athletic lineup in the 2023-2024 school year.

On Monday, the Board of Directors of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) voted unanimously to add girls wrestling and boys volleyball to its new Emerging Sport Process.

The Emerging Sport Process, approved a year ago by the IHSAA Board of Directors, helps pave the way to becoming a recognized sport.

Girls wrestling and boys volleyball are the first two sports to earn this designation.

The IHSAA will now provide rule books, conduct coaches rules meetings and provide coverage in the IHSAA’s Catastrophic Medical program. Both sports will now be subject to all IHSAA rules and policies, including the General Eligibility Rules.

For a sport to become officially recognized and an IHSAA state tournament be sponsored, 50 percent of the membership must be participating in the sport. The IHSAA currently has 407 member schools around the state.

The Indiana Boys Volleyball Coaches Association (IBVCA) has been administering its state tournament since 1994 while the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association (IHSWCA) has been conducting a girls wrestling state tournament since 2017.

Representatives of both coaching associations submitted requested information including data on participants in Indiana as well as other states, suggested playing rules and potential practice seasons as well as letters of commitment from member schools that either currently sponsor or intend to sponsor a program.

While there have been attempts to start a boys volleyball club program at Shelbyville High School, there is not a committed base yet to field a program, according to athletic director Jenny DeMuth Hensley.

“We had a little bit of interest for boys volleyball and some have tried to start a club but it never took off,” she said Wednesday morning.

According to the data submitted by the IBVCA, there are 42 schools fielding boys volleyball teams around the state.

There has not been talk of adding a boys volleyball program at Triton Central High School, according to athletic director Bryan Graham.

There would be concerns about how adding another spring sport would affect participation numbers with current spring sports.

“We have not discussed (boys volleyball),” said Graham. “We still have to look at the numbers for different sports. We went through that when we started the girls soccer program. I think it probably damaged the volleyball program for a few years.

“We have to have both the (participation) numbers and be competitive.”

If Triton Central were to add another sport, boys soccer is the likely frontrunner, but that is not on the athletic agenda for 2023-2024 school year.

Both Shelbyville and Triton Central – Shelby County’s two largest school systems – have had girls competing in wrestling. Neither have had enough girls to fill a full team.

The IHSWCA confirmed 350 girls represented 113 schools in this year’s girls wrestling state tournament.

“Any time we can offer sports to get students involved is a good thing,” said DeMuth Hensley on the possibility of adding two more Golden Bear teams.

In other board business Monday:

• The board clarified that any student-athlete ejected from a contest due to NFHS playing rules but not deemed unsporting such as a handball in the box during a soccer match or use of an illegal bat in softball, will not be suspended for the next contest. Also, any student-athlete ejected for a second time during a season will be suspended for the next two contests.
• A coach, contest administrator, school administrator or fan ejected from a contest will be suspended for the next two contests. A second ejection will be a four-game suspension.
• An amendment to Rule 9-13 proposed by Carmel High School Principal Tom Harmas that would allow the commissioner to reschedule a state tournament contest to Sunday if weather or other emergency situations arose failed 0-19.
• An amendment to Rule 10-1 by Evansville North Principal John Skinner and the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference failed (2-17) to gain enough support in its current form. The proposal would have eliminated the restrictions on Indiana schools from hosting schools from farther than 300 miles away or being able to compete against a school from beyond the travel limit at an out-of-state event. The board, however, requested that the Executive Staff review and draft another proposal for team and individual sports for its consideration at the next meeting.
• An amendment to Rule 19-5.1 failed 8-11. Peru Principal Paul Frye proposed when a student’s parents/guardians make a change of residence to a new school district, the student may transfer and attempt to obtain full eligibility in any school located within a 20-mile radius of the new residence when a move of more than 75 miles is made. The same proposal ended in a tie among board members a year ago and was brought back to the agenda this year.
• With regard to Rule 19-6.2, when a student transfers to a new school without a change of residence, they would have limited eligibility in all sports. An exception to that rule was approved unanimously allowing full eligibility in sports the student has not previously participated in over the last 365 days.
• The elections for next year’s leadership of the board and Executive Committee also were held. Chris Conley of Delta High School was voted president of the 2022-2023 Board of Directors and Kye Denney of Wes-Del High School was elected vice president. Jeff Doyle of Barr-Reeve High School was named chairman of the 2022-23 Executive Committee and Jim Brown of Fishers High School was confirmed as vice chairman. Brown, Fishers’ athletic director, formerly served as athletic director at Triton Central High School in Fairland.