When Geoff Colton went to college in his early 30s, he wanted to join some kind of activity where he could meet people.
He felt his options were a bit limited as someone who had recently gotten sober after struggling with drugs and alcohol.
“I knew it couldn’t be a frat,” he said.
So, to help him move forward, he looked back, where he reconnected with volleyball. He grew up in California, where he had plenty of opportunities to play on club and school teams. He found a club team at his college in Sacramento, and has spent the last decade-plus integrating himself back into the sport.
Now, Colton is trying to teach the game he loves to younger generations as the head coach of the Tigard boys volleyball team, a new team in its first season at the school.
“This is my giveback to the community,” Colton said. “It’s about teaching kids about the sport I love. I was in communication with (Tigard Athletic Director) Ryan Taylor for three years about getting a team together, and this year, we were finally able to give it a shot. Without him, this wouldn’t have happened.”
In October 2023, the Oregon School Activities Association named boys volleyball as an emerging activity, meaning there was enough interest in making it a full-on sport that OSAA would give it a probationary period to see if enough schools participated. The sport has grown from 25 teams in 2023 to nearly 70 this year, and the OSAA is expected to vote on whether to make it a full sport this October.
Colton has coached boys volleyball club teams in the area and was following along as OSAA discussed adding boys volleyball, and was in contact with Taylor about bringing a team to the school.
There are some difficulties in starting a new program, of course, both on and off the court. Colton wasn’t totally sure about what turnout would be like, but he had 24 boys sign up to tryout, 14 of whom made the team.
“I’m a one-man band and I would have loved to produce a JV team, as well,” he said. “But the time constraints with coaching club and my regular work, there wasn’t enough for me to go around.”
Another difficulty is teaching his team the sport. Of the team’s 14 members, only two have any kind of organized volleyball experience: sophomore Brayden Ellis, who has played six years of club ball, and junior Cody Matthews, who has played club for four years.
“It’s been a challenge,” Ellis said. “Everybody is so new. It’s also a good challenge to step up in this leadership position and help out the players with less experience. It’s been fun to see them pick things up and get better.”
Colton said he has leaned on Ellis and Matthews quite a bit so far this year.
“I consider them assistants to me,” he said. “When it came time to running specific drills, they were my examples. I ask them to showcase and display what I was trying to convey to the rest of the team as far as the execution of certain plays. They’re big leaders within the team.”
Colton said his team is very willing to learn and are excited about the sport, which is what he wants to see more than anything else. He said coming into the season, he compared the process of teaching the Tigers about the game to coaching an under-12 team.
“It’s about fundamentals,” he said. “If they’re showing excitement and improving as athletes, that’s great. We’re working on footwork, court IQ, knowing your surroundings, and how to work as a team.”
One other thing that has made it a bit more difficult is that volleyball isn’t the most mainstream sport. It’s not one you can typically throw on the TV any time of year, or one kids grow up watching or playing outside of occasionally in gym class.
Freshman Patrick Gerhard had some experience playing on an afterschool team in middle school, but his first year on the school team has been quite a bit different just in terms of learning the sport and the intensity of playing for the school.
“We have so many people doing it for the first time or even me, who’s been playing for a few years, but never in a competitive environment,” he said. “It’s a big change for me from middle school afterschool teachers to actual professional coaching.”
He said he heard there was a chance there would be a boys team when he got to high school, and he was pumped when he found out he could give it a try. Both Gerhard and Ellis said they told friends about the team to try and get them to try out, but not many did.
However, they both also said they have friends coming to their home games already, and they’ve loved playing in front of a crowd.
Colton said he’s already seen so much growth in his players that he’s already excited about the future of the program.
“It’s a sport where you have to crawl before you can walk,” Colton said. “You start with learning how to pass the ball and set the ball, and the arm swing mechanics of hitting the ball at the net. You have to break every little piece down. From there, the boys go from learning the techniques to learning the rules, and they connect the dots. That’s the exciting part. They go from scoring a point to understanding how they scored a point.”
The work the team has put in is already paying off. Tigard has had a few injuries, leading to some younger or more inexperienced players having to play more than expected. Colton can see the players on his team connecting to the sport the more they play, and he thinks that bodes well for the future of boys volleyball at Tigard.
“What we’re able to do with those younger aged athletes is have them lock in on the sport,” he said. “So many families have already reached out to ask what more they can do to get their son playing more volleyball. There are plenty of camps and plenty of clinics close, and the next season of club volleyball is coming up. Right now, for all these kids, they’re all going after the same goal: to get better and represent their school.”
