When you look at MSMS on Niche.com, you see many astounding ratings: sixth best public high school in the country and a number one faculty in the nation at the forefront. The only category that MSMS doesn’t shine in is sports.

MSMS currently has only four sports available to students: soccer, tennis, cross country, and swim. A few students wish to change that number to five; namely, Clara Grady from Horn Lake, MS. Grady has played volleyball since the 6th grade. Through MSMS’s volleyball club, captained by Lillian Le and Erin Davis, she’s gotten a chance to have fun playing the game she loves. “I’ve played sports my whole life, and it came to a point where I needed something to do. So I just did it.” she said.

MSMS currently has only four sports available to students: soccer, tennis, cross country, and swim. A few students wish to change that number to five; namely, Clara Grady from Horn Lake, MS. Grady has played volleyball since the 6th grade. Through MSMS’s volleyball club, captained by Lillian Le and Erin Davis, she’s gotten a chance to have fun playing the game she loves. “I’ve played sports my whole life, and it came to a point where I needed something to do. So I just did it.” she said.

“It’d be great if  [volleyball] was an official team, it’s just a club right now. If we can get to that point to play other schools in the area that would be really cool,” Grady said. She continued by saying, “I don’t know the difficulties in the paperwork that it would take to become an official team, but I know with the association [Mississippi High School Activities Association] we are not allowed to play official high school teams.”

Grady explained that the volleyball club currently has around 20 members with pretty much an even split of boys and girls. According to rule 7.6.2 of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) handbook, volleyball is recognized as a girl’s only sport. And in compliance with the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS), there must be at least 6 team members.

Grady isn’t alone in her pursuit. Fellow junior Violet Gira said, “I think a volleyball team would be very beneficial. I’ve met a lot of girls and guys who are very talented in volleyball. Adding that to our list of sports would be a great idea. I would just love a team here.”

The biggest obstacle for a volleyball team to come in fruition would be continued interest. Not all schools in Mississippi have cross country, swim, tennis, or volleyball teams. Last year, the cross country couldn’t officially place because they had less than five runners. This sort of problem would be detrimental to a sport that has a minimum requirement not only for competition, but also participation. Maybe if it were an official team, there could be a refreshed interest. Many MSMS athletes come from schools where they may not have had an opportunity to play sports, so playing a varsity sport is often a brand new and attractive opportunity.

With a place to practice in Stark and a will to compete, there are still plenty of reasons to pump the brakes. A lot of money would have to be involved: possibly hiring a coach, travel and team expenses. The tricky “continued interest” would have to be assured. One thing, however, can be counted on: Clara Grady and company making the most with what they have and having fun.