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Scrimmage
The Woodstock Academy and Putnam High School played a boys’ volleyball scrimmage near the end of the school year. Photo by Adam Bottone.
Adam Bottone is a veteran coach at Woodstock Academy.
But come the spring next year, he will be doing something he has never done before.
Build a program from the ground up. The Academy will debut its new boys’ varsity volleyball program in the spring. “I’m really excited about it,” Bottone said. “We tried about eight years ago to get it started. We had a small group of guys who were interested and we tried to run it as a club and they just never came on a regular basis.”
This past spring, that attitude changed.
Spurred on by the rapt interest of junior Aiden Finch, the volleyball club team did have a successful club season.
“I have played the sport for a long time and I have really grown to love it. I want to share it with other people. I want to get other boys and the school involved so we can share boys’ volleyball with Woodstock Academy,” Finch said.
While girls’ volleyball is entrenched in Connecticut as a fall sport, boys’ volleyball is still having its growing pains.
The ECC has only two teams that currently participate in the sport, Norwich Free Academy and, more recently, Putnam. The only other team along the Interstate 395 corridor is Norwich Tech.
The Centaurs had about 10 players who showed up regularly for the club team this past spring. Finch said it will be incumbent upon him and those who played to not only recruit more student-athletes but to help fund the program.
“We plan on doing fund-raisers throughout the year,” Finch said. “I’ve been talking to local businesses and other people. We may have some pasta nights. We’re also talking to incoming freshmen as well as sophomore and juniors to try and get people campaigning for it.”
Finch said he became interested in the sport in seventh grade.
As with most high school students, he began watching videos of the sport, developed a passion for it, and then sought out a club program and camps to begin working on his skills.
“He was really instrumental in wanting this program to happen. He’s been pushing administration to get this going and they agreed this (past) school year to run it as a club. It’s a new sport for the school and while it is volleyball, it’s a very different game from the girls,” Bottone said.
Team play is key in girls’ volleyball. On the boys’ side, it’s a bit more individualistic.
“When played right, there is a lot more impact - powerful hitting. It’s basically a side out game where one team serves, you get a pass and you’re siding out right away whereas the girls tend to have more rallies,” Bottone said.
One of the Centaurs former girls’ players, All-State performer Morgan Bonin who recently graduated, thinks a boys’ program will benefit the school.
“I think it’s great. I play on a different club team in the offseason and all the girls I play with, their schools have boys’ teams. Ours never did so I think it is something really great that Aiden is doing and I would like to see more people get involved with volleyball,” Bonin said.
Athletic director Sean Saucier said the addition of another sport in the 23-24 school year - wrestling was previously announced as returning this winter – is another plus.
“It’s more opportunities for the kids. It doesn’t interfere with any facilities in the spring, it’s easy to do and coach Bottone is excited,” Saucier said.
The Centaurs will have a league affiliation along with NFA, Putnam and Norwich Tech and also have a schedule ready to go for the 2024 season.
Finch will be a key ingredient for the new program. “My favorite position is at middle blocker (hitter). You get a chance to block a lot of balls and when you hit, it’s very satisfying. It’s a very quick process compared to an outside or opposite (hitters). It’s a lot of fun. I like playing on the outside, too, but middle is where my heart is,” Finch said.
Others who took part in the inaugural club season this past spring included Garrett Bushey who played setter, Hunter Larson, Cade Jones who also played some middle, defensive specialist Nathan Billings, Anthony Buckner and Eli Susi.
Bottone also expects to see interest from the incoming freshman class.
“I think the team is getting better at the fundamentals of the game, the serving and the passing. We’re teaching everyone how to play; there are only a couple kids with actual volleyball experience so we are starting from the ground up. It’s getting these kids to learn how to play the game, basic rules, rotations, skills. It was a heavy task. I think we’re coming into our own, at least, as far as the fundamentals,” Finch said. Now comes the fun part. After playing just two scrimmages, against the girls’ team and Putnam this past spring, the Centaurs will now get a taste of varsity volleyball come the spring.
“I’m incredibly excited but I’m nervous. There are things that come up unexpectedly like injuries and players can’t play for whatever reason but I’m staying positive. We have to keep getting more guys playing, keep pushing, that’s the plan,” Finch said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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