Chase Thorpe

Aiden Thomas prepares to serve at home game. Thomas said he hopes the recognition of men’s volleyball from IHSAA will get more men to join the sport.

When did you start playing volleyball? How did you get into it?

I’ve been playing volleyball for 3 years, I started when I was 14. I kind of went through every sport; baseball, soccer, basketball and I was total garbage at all of that and my sister played volleyball for a really long time. I never really liked watching her play but then eventually I tried volleyball and I really enjoyed it and it kind of just clicked. 

How do you feel that IHSAA has officially recognized men’s volleyball as a sport?

I am really excited and everyone else is super excited too, we have always kind of talked about it. It is a quickly growing sport and it has never really gotten the attention it deserves, at least from Carmel. Being a club sport we did really have the most gym time so it’s exciting that it is going to be promoted. I’m excited for new people to join and come to games. 

Why do you think it took so long for it to become recognized?

I feel there has always been a bad stigma about boys volleyball specifically, which has always been frustrating but I feel like it has taken a while to go away but I really don’t see that anymore. When I was in middle school I got bullied for it all the time but now no one cares and people think it’s really cool. I feel maybe because it was a niche sport at the time for a long time and as that started to change (it became an IHSAA sport).

Do you feel men’s volleyball gets the same respect as womens?

I feel like the sport in general doesn’t get enough respect for both men and women. For men, it definitely is seen as a “girl’s sport” or that it is easy. I feel like it has a really steep learning curve so I really like it. Girls volleyball is also different from boy’s volleyball, like girls is more technical and boys do not care at all about the technique. I feel like it never gets enough attention so it never gets respect in general. 

What challenges have you faced?

Trying to actually get people to take it seriously was hard for a while. It’s hard to get people to see it as a sport near the same level as basketball. Learning was also difficult because of coaching. It is hard to get coaches for volleyball and it’s hard for them to implement the fundamentals.

Do you plan on continuing volleyball in the future?

I would love to play in college on the club level because I am only 6’3 which is not tall enough to play, especially for my position (middle blocker), for the really good colleges. The average height for a middle blocker is like 6’6 so it’s sad. So I would want to play for a club team instead of the official school team.