At a YMCA in Springfield, Mass., in 1892, Dr. James Naismith affixed a peach basket to an elevated running track and created basketball. For Naismith’s friend William Morgan, however, the game seemed a bit too rigorous for a middle-aged businessman’s fitness regimen. So Morgan paddled about 10 miles north on the Connecticut River to Holyoke and invented a different game, originally called “Mintonette.”

Just over a century later, basketball has give us first-name icons, Redeem Teams, and 360 Tomahawk in-your-face slam dunks in HD. But Morgan’s brainchild — the step-sibling of basketball that’s now called volleyball — has taken on a life of its own, even here along Tobacco Road. At the recent Olympics in Beijing, the U.S. beach volleyball duo of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers claimed the gold medal by beating Brazil just a day after another U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh claimed the title in the women’s competition.

On the hardwood, the U.S. men’s team volleyball squad claimed another gold medal, and the U.S. women took home silver.

With the visibility generated by the seeming ubiquitous coverage of these medal-winning teams during the Summer Games in China, the sport seems poised to explode in popularity with the velocity of a Dalhausser spike.

“When I first started (doing the club thing), I had about 10 kids involved,” Chapel Hill High School volleyball coach Sherry Norris said, “and when I stopped doing it a couple years ago, there were 75. This summer, we had 150-plus girls at volleyball camp, and the first year I did that camp, we had 13.

“When we first started playing, the AAU Club teams had a gold, silver and bronze league,” Norris added, “and now they’ve added copper and platinum for five different skill levels. They used to have tournaments every other weekend, and now they have them every weekend just so all the kids can play.”

While girls’ volleyball teams at CHHS coached by Norris have amassed over 600 victories, volleyball isn’t merely a ladies’ autumn sport relegated to high school gyms.

Club volleyball often runs through the winter and into early summer, drop-in programs run throughout the year, camps are offered each summer, and recreational where basketball seems infused into the very DNA.

Volleyball’s ascension into the menus of mainstream high school and college women’s athletics has mirrored its widespread popularity as a recreational activity; the sport has been steadily on the rise over the past two decades. volleyball is drawing more and more enthusiasts to sand and grass courts throughout the Triangle region.

One example is a Carrboro Recreation and Parks volleyball clinic program for girls 10-13 years old, which is completely filled, with over a dozen girls on the waiting list.


Net worth

Carrboro still offers its longstanding drop-in program, however, featuring informal play for ages 16 and up (15-and-under with an adult) and the chance to meet others with similar interests. Groups are welcome to attend the sessions, which run on Tuesday and Thursday evenings 7-10 p.m. Though this week’s sessions have been pre-empted due to a facilities scheduling conflict, the program is still due to start up Sept. 9 and run through Oct. 16.

For information on the program, which was tentatively scheduled to take place in the Culbreth Middle School Gymnasium, look for updates in the Chapel Hill News and on the Carrboro Rec Department’s web site.

“Each night usually attracts anywhere from 12 to 30 people, depending on what else is going on in the area,” Carrboro recreation supervisor Charles Harrington said.

Chapel Hill is also trying to establish its own program with free, drop-in matches at Rashkis Elementary School, said Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation supervisor Mike Troutman. Those matches run 1-6 p.m. Sunday afternoons.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA also offers a clinic and drop-in program in its gymnasium, 3-6:30 p.m. each Sunday for YMCA members and their guests. It’s coordinated by Jack Petty and Mike Mc-Carthy, YMCA sports director Mike Meyen explained.

“Jack and his family have been involved in area club volleyball, his daughter has played, and Mike McCarthy also coaches” at an area middle school, Meyen said.

The YMCA program is primarily attended by middle school and high school girls, though the program is officially coed.

“To start, they do a youth clinic primarily at those,” Meyen said. “They’ll do that for an hour before youth free-play, and then they’ll work some of the adults in. The last 90 minutes, there’ll be more of the intermediates and advanced adults that area playing.”

The YMCA has also reserved Tuesday nights, 6:45-8:45 p.m. this fall for intermediate and adult players. A league of their own.

Hillsborough parks and recreation typically starts its Adult Volleyball League in mid-winter. In its second year in 2009, Hillsborough will form recreational and competitive leagues of four-person teams for Sunday afternoon play, which should continue through April, including a postseason tournament.

“In the spring, we have our co-ed volleyball league, and we also have instructional youth classes,” Hillsborough’s Chris Sousa said.

Orange High School volleyball coach Wade Heverly offers an instructional class for both new kids and some intermediates. That’s usually on Saturdays at the Central Recreation Center in Hillsborough, starting the first week of April and running for six consecutive weeks.

Sousa said the league’s inaugural season in 2008 proved highly popular.

“Last year was the first year we offered adult co-ed volleyball, and we actually ended up with eight teams,” Sousa said. “We get about 35 to 40 girls each year for that. The youth volleyball program has also been very consistent.”

Sousa said further details would be available in Hillsborough’s winter program brochure, which is due to be pub- lished and disseminated around December.


Sandy heels

Campuses have long been the harbingers of trends in recreation, and the popularity of both pick-up and intramural volleyball at UNC points toward further growth.

Intramural sand volleyball on the three courts at the university’s Outdoor Education Center remains very popular, and, in particular, co-rec teams are increasing in numbers. The university is also looking at the creation of new sand courts to keep up with demand for beach volleyball pick-up play.

One court is located along Raleigh Road, and another is south campus, UNC Recreation’s intramurals supervisor Justin Ford said. “There are going to be three more courts built on south campus near the Smith Center.”

Originating out of the wake of the original King and Queen Volleyball Tournaments in the Raleigh area begun in the mid-1990s, the online resource “vhi volleyball” has become a clearing house for all things volleyball in the Triangle. The organization hosts outdoor tournaments throughout the spring, summer, and fall for all ages and ability levels. The site itself has become the online go-to site for locating adult and junior clubs, tournaments, clinics and team play, both through local recreation agencies and at establishments like bars and restaurants that offer courts. .


Join the club

As is the case with youth gymnastics, volleyball clubs and summer camps are quickly becoming the choice for athletes looking to hone skills during the off-season.

Heverly has a travel program working out of Hillsborough. The Chapel Hill Area Volleyball Club, Durham Orange Volleyball Club and Triangle Volleyball Club all offer travel squads, Norris noted.

With the resources available –- not just in the Triangle but across the United States — and the visibility afforded by the Americans’ success this summer, it would be a surprise if more and more young athletes aren’t earning medals in years to come, whether courting success in conventional team competition or digging in the sand for gold in beach volleyball.