Boys’ Volleyball looks to serve up a season in 2022-23

Two CHS students work to start a new team, and share their passion for the sport

Jicell Gutierrez Urenda, Pepper Bough Staff Writer|March 7, 2022

J. Dollins

Matthew Sosa Contreras and Max Ramos worked for much of their senior years to start a boys’ volleyball team on campus. Their dream is set to become a reality.

Colton, CA—Matthew Sosa Contreras and Max Ramos are following their dream of starting a boys’ volleyball team here at Colton High School. 

Sosa Contreras’s main motivation was looking to just start a club because volleyball is a passion for him and he enjoys that it’s a very fast-paced sport.

“I want to give others what I didn’t get,” said Sosa Contreras. 

Ramos also shares Sosa Contreras’ passion, and believes that volleyball should be played by the boys at CHS.

“I believe that other people share my love for volleyball,” said Ramos. “And I feel like many people have wanted to play volleyball before, but because it’s commonly viewed as a girls’ sport, many people wouldn’t want to start it.”

During 10th grade, Ramos frequently visited CSUSB to play volleyball with some friends. He always wondered why our school didn’t have a volleyball team. 

Sosa Contreras and Ramos first started the process towards starting a boys’ volleyball team around the beginning of the girls’ volleyball season. They talked with ASB Director Alex Buskirk, and asked if she could pitch the idea to the coaches.

Coach Anthony Wade, who is the head coach of the JV girls’ team and an assistant for the varsity girls’ team, was interested. “Ever since I’ve been in high school playing volleyball, I’ve always wanted to coach boys.”

Every year Wade has had students ask him about a volleyball team, but Sosa Contreras and Ramos are the first to make it happen. 

After securing a coach, they met with athletic director Jacob Van Hofwegen. Van Hofwegen told them that unfortunately because they are seniors, the team would not be playing until the next season.

Since Ramos and Sosa Contreras couldn’t turn volleyball into a sport for this year, they still made sure to start a club that allows them to share their love for volleyball and prepare this year’s underclassmen for an inaugural season next year. In only a couple weeks of meeting for practices, 19 students have laced up and come out onto the practice court.

The boys’ volleyball team meets on Mondays and Thursdays after school from 3-5 p.m. in the Hubbs Gym for practice.