ROCKPORT — Volleyball could soon be coming to Camden Hills Regional High School with Athletic Director Jeff Hart set to propose the sport’s addition at the school board meeting Wednesday, April 5. 

The sport, presently only open to girls in Maine, has 45 schools pledged to field a team next school year, a number that continues to grow each year. Hart, in his proposal letter to the board, noted it is the fasting growing Maine high school sport. 

By offering the sport, Camden Hills would not only be satisfying a “strong student interest” but would also move the school in the right direction with Title IX, Hart wrote. 

Title IX, as defined by the Women’s Sports Foundation, gives women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports in educational institutions. 

“We recently did a Title IX review of our athletic program and while they recommend having a substantially proportional (1-2% difference) female enrollment and sports participation, we learned that our differential was 6%,” wrote Hart. “They recommend us look for areas of student interest and ability to provide more opportunities for female participation.” 

Camden Hills, when it joins the varsity ranks, would be classified as a Class B school for volleyball, which would see them competing against familiar opponents for other sports including Messalonskee, Brewer, Nokomis, Cony and Gardiner. 

Hart, however, recommends the program’s first season or two is spent at the sub-varsity level playing against other schools starting new programs, of which Hart noted there are several schools that fit into that category. 

Interest from the student body has existed in recent years, and Hart does not expect the addition to negatively impact existing fall sports. 

“We have had a teacher at school who has run an intramural program at various times over the past couple of years,” Hart wrote. “Those intramural opportunities were interrupted by COVID, but there has been more than enough interest to justify us trying to make this work. I think we will have plenty of interest, without jeopardizing our existing Fall Sport offerings for girls (soccer, field hockey, cross country, golf, and mountain biking).” 

In fact, 2017 CHRHS graduate Alexis Lahner attended Stetson University and Jacksonville University, both in Florida, to play collegiate volleyball after spending her high school years traveling four hours round-trip from the Midcoast as a member of an out-of-region club team. 

The total startup costs by Hart are estimated at $14,334.15, which includes $5,334.15 for jerseys and equipment, $3,500 for a coaching stipend, $2,500 for transportation to 7-10 away games, $1,500 to pay referees for 7-10 home games and $1,500 for other home game related costs.