WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Shortly after taking over as Hartford High athletic director in 2016, Jeff Moreno sent a survey to all students and parents in the school district to see what sports families were interested in.
Volleyball, which Hartford had never offered before, came back with huge numbers.
Six years later, those desires are finally a reality. Hartford started a club volleyball program this fall and will be a full varsity sport next year, with a full schedule and the opportunity to compete in the playoffs.
The turnout exceeded Moreno’s wildest dreams.
“This is an extremely rapid process,” Moreno said. “I’ve never seen anything this quick before. Usually, you’re in club mode for several years. This is lightning-fast. I didn’t anticipate even close to this many girls signing up and showing up.”
Interest in the sport resurfaced last year, when a group of girls who entered the high school began pushing for a club. Gigi Martinez, now a sophomore, was in that group — and her mother, Carlin Martinez, had played high school volleyball in Danbury, Conn., and had the chance to play at the NCAA Division I level at Marist College. Martinez became the Hurricanes’ first head coach, with her older daughter Violet, a junior who competed in track and field last year, also joining the team.
Despite her volleyball knowledge, Martinez had no coaching experience, so Hartford brought in Michael Trombley, the father of senior Sophia and freshman Bella Trombley, as an assistant. With 20 students signed up, Martinez had enough athletes to form varsity and junior varsity teams for the club season, and a middle school team has also been established.
“There’s just so much interest,” Martinez said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who were doing the plays and shows and concerts. Some of the kids had never played on a sports team before and thought they couldn’t, but volleyball is a sport where you can try that out and surprise yourself.”
Moreno anticipated that the Hurricanes would mostly play friendly scrimmages, but they’ve cobbled together a schedule that includes Vermont Commons, Mount Anthony, Mid Vermont Christian, Mount Mansfield and Middlebury.
Hartford already had a supply of volleyballs and a net for teaching the sport in physical education classes, although the net was shorter than the typical height and on the flimsy side. The court is a work in progress, running along the short side of Hanley Gymnasium with faint tan lines marking the boundaries and the attack line marked with blue masking tape.
“We started working more quickly to get real nets and put plans in place to get some real lines on the floor,” Moreno said. “We will be a varsity team next year, which should help alleviate some of those problems.”
Martinez has emphasized fundamentals in practice — she said just four or five of her players had prior volleyball experience. Because most were not involved in other sports, programs like soccer, field hockey and cross country did not see their numbers dip.
Bella Trombley played a year of club volleyball in Essex, Vt., and she said she frequently watches college volleyball on ESPN and other stations. But despite its steady growth nationally, volleyball has yet to gain a major foothold in Vermont, with only one division for the VPA playoffs. Mid Vermont Christian, which this year has only a JV team, is the only other Upper Valley school on the Vermont side with a volleyball program. The University of Vermont, the only Division I institution in the state, does not field a varsity team.
“I wish it was more of an expected thing for schools to have,” Trombley said. “I’m really excited that it’s starting to pick up more.”
Even with her mother being an experienced player, Violet Martinez never played volleyball before this year, but she also enjoys watching it on television and her family has attended several games at Dartmouth.
Like Moreno, she marveled at how quickly the Hartford program came together and the personalities who have been drawn to it. She also said watching a lot of volleyball has helped her pick it up more easily.
“It’s insane how fast it’s picked up. It’s cool to see other people in my school being into the same thing I am,” she said. “I’m at a loss for words. I’ve been able to meet all these cool people who I normally wouldn’t have.”
It’s been a long time since Carlin Martinez played competitively as well, so she’s participating in practices herself. The Hurricanes use a two-setter rotation, which Martinez said relieves some of their stress because they have someone in each row to get the ball to.
Hartford has three matches and an all-day jamboree left on the schedule, and it will soon be preparing for its transition to a recognized varsity program. But with just two seniors this year and a large developmental team at the middle school, Martinez expects the learning curve to be much smoother.
“While we’re still learning rotations and moves, I’m really surprised they’ve learned so much so quickly,” Martinez said. “You need to have people who want to be there. It’s not going to be everyone doing it from scratch. I won’t have to introduce all the new techniques and how to play the game, because now they’ll know it.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.