A men’s volleyball club will begin this semester, thanks to Luke Good, senior marketing major, and Randy Cochenour, sophomore mathematics and education major, who have been working to secure a club team for men who want to play at a higher level than intramural sports.
Saint Vincent has a women’s volleyball team and offers volleyball as an intramural sport in the spring for men and women. However, men were not able to play at a competitive level on campus.
Cochenour has been interested in playing volleyball since he was a child.
“Volleyball was something I had always enjoyed playing, whether it be in gym class, on sand courts with friends or at backyard parties,” Cochenour said.
Good has been able to find various ways to remain interested in the sport
while at Saint Vincent.
“Playing in college was something I had always wanted to do,” Good said. “I’ve always been able to play at various pick up games, intramurals and at Seton Hill where they have their own club team.”
Seton Hill University has a volleyball club for all students who are interested in pick-up games. Saint Vincent students are always welcome to join them for matches.
The men had a desire to initiate a more structured program for male students at Saint Vincent, explained Cochenour.
“We wanted to create a way to play since there aren’t many opportunities for guys to play, especially at a higher level. Intramurals are fun, but most players will tell you it’s not the same as playing with a group of people that really understand the game. It’s more enjoyable to play competitively with experienced players, as I’m sure is the same with any other sport,” Cochenour said.
Good and Cochenour found it easy to obtain club status on campus and to find other students who would be interested in playing volleyball at a high level.
“It was fairly easy to find people with the similar interests who wanted to play with us,” Good said. With the WPIAL being such a strong league for Men’s Volleyball, specifically with Latrobe and Derry being known for their men’s teams, it was easy to find talent on campus. Even if they didn’t play high school volleyball, many of the people I know interested in the sport are wanting to come out and play with us, which is awesome!”
Good said that the men’s volleyball club team is currently working to be able to practice more regularly on campus.
“We hope to start practicing regularly. However, it’s tough to get gym time. We’re hoping to have set times next semester so we can practice together,” Good said.
Cochenour would like to build teamwork for potential tournaments in the future.
“We haven’t played together as a team yet,” Cochenour said. However, we
are working on possibly going to a tournament and trying to get together some practices so we can begin to build better teamwork.”
Both Good and Cochenour worked to turn their ideas for a structured team into a club sport.
“Getting to club status wasn’t incredibly difficult,” Cochenour said, “but we are working now on joining a league to compete against other teams. We think it will happen, but have to go through the process of actually joining now.”
Good said they hope that their club attracts more players who are interested in playing at a club sport level.
“We hope the club will continue to grow. Both our men and women’s club rugby teams have been doing well, and we hope to model after their programs and become just as successful. People are interested in playing at a level higher than just intramurals, so we’re hoping we this can not only be a great outlet for people to learn the game, but also for people to play at a competitive level as well,” Good said.
Photo: stvincent.edu