After a successful experimental season last year along with a push from volleyball players and coaches, boys volleyball is making progress in gaining school and state-level recognition.

Patrick Gibson is a volleyball coach at Lincoln, as well as Lincoln’s lead advocate for boys volleyball throughout Oregon. He has acted on many school-wide and district-wide initiatives to help further the chances of developing a boys volleyball program accessible to all Portland Public Schools (PPS) students.

On Oct. 10, 2022, Gibson attended an Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) delegates assembly meeting in Wilsonville, where he presented a preliminary application for boys volleyball to be considered an emerging sport in Oregon. He’s excited about the future of the sport. 

“We’re planning an upcoming spring season club tournament again this year. We have reached out to all athletic directors in the state asking if their schools are interested in participating. At this point, we’ve had 36 responses in the affirmative. This is 36 schools, not 36 teams. Last year, we had seven teams, but they were from five different schools,” Gibson said.

“We also started a petition on change.org to get some additional visibility,” said Gibson. “We’ve had over 1,700 signatures on our petition so far. This was featured on KGW News.”

Gibson believes approval is only a matter of time. 

“Based on where we are and the work that we’ve put into it already, the earliest this could happen would probably be for the 2023-2024 school year,” said Gibson.

Many students at Lincoln are also very excited about the potential of a boys volleyball program.

Senior Kyle Moon, Lincoln Volleyball Club president, fosters a space for students to play recreational co-ed volleyball. Moon has received an immense amount of interest in the club, especially from male-identifying members.

“I had 90-plus people sign up. There’s some kind of interest towards volleyball, and 80% of those people who signed up were boys. I think a lot of people are eager to play and learn. Having that as an option for students here at Lincoln is a good opportunity,” Moon said.

Varsity volleyball player Tate Thompson is a big supporter of boys volleyball and helped coach the experimental season last year. 

“I think it is very important to have a boys volleyball team at Lincoln because there are so many volleyball families where the girls play volleyball for the school, but the boys don’t get to because there is no team for them,” Thompson said.