By Alyssa Brawdy
Fall 2023
Volleyball is a highly competitive, female dominant sport. It is similar to how Football is for males and is open for everybody to play and watch for entertainment. It is a rather popular sport and most high schools have a volleyball team nowadays. It is also very easy to convert a basketball court to a volleyball court and vice versa. Due to the popular nature of the sport it would be a correct assumption to assume that a division one university would have a volleyball team too, right? However, that is not the case with Oklahoma State University. This D1 school houses a basketball team and even an equestrian team of all things, but not volleyball.
Oklahoma State University is a land-grant university meaning that the university receives benefits because of the Morrill Act that was passed in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln and Justin Smith Morrill who sponsored the Land-Grant legislation. (The Land-Grant Tradition 1). The entire purpose of a Land-Grant university is to make higher education more accessible and affordable to students who never even thought college was a possibility for them (Shrum, “We are Land-Grant” 2:54-3:08). College is super expensive and many students rely heavily on scholarships to help pay for college. Some students however, can only attend college if they receive a full ride scholarship, such as Oklahoma’s beloved Garth Brooks. Scholarships are already difficult to get so being granted a full ride is especially challenging. One way to get a full ride scholarship is by playing a sport in high-school and attracting attention from college scouts with talent, hard-work, and dedication to the sport. If the scout/college coach deems a student worthy of the sport they play, then the student will typically receive a scholarship in exchange for playing a sport at the collegiate level for the acknowledged team.
While Oklahoma State University offers numerous scholarships yearly to help meet their quota for making higher education more accessible and affordable as previously stated, then why have they not started a volleyball team yet? OSU students have the opportunity to play club volleyball at the university, but they do not have the opportunity to play at the division one level. This also means that there are no volleyball scholarship opportunities, which cuts out a whole community of prospective OSU students. Especially considering that there is a 6A high school not even two miles away from the campus that houses a female volleyball team. A club sport in college is merely meant to be played to stay active and build friendships. It is not to receive money to help pay educational expenses, and most of the time you end up paying to play. Shrum states that OSU will become “the pre-eminent” land grant university and that “they will achieve that by capitalizing on OSU’s strengths and societies greatest needs”, but what our society actively needs are scholarships to be able to afford tuition and fees (Shrum, “We are Land-Grant” 4:24-5:30). OSU is not acknowledging this issue at the moment, and although handing out volleyball scholarships will not help out every student in need, it could easily make the difference between one individual being eligible or even ineligible to attend OSU. A single scholarship, or 6 for a volleyball starting lineup for that matter, could change an individual’s life significantly by relieving financial stress and allowing an amazing opportunity.
Oklahoma State University is located in Stillwater. Within this city just right off of the university’s campus, and within walking distance, is Stillwater High School. This high school is classified as a 6A and comparatively is the public high school version of a division one college.
Obviously a high school is very different from a college, but one thing that SHS has that OSU does not is a volleyball program. Stillwater high school is known for their football and volleyball programs because those are sports they excel in. I can attest to that personally as I used to play volleyball at a 6A school in the same conference as SHS. For a school to excel in a sport they have to have a coach to guide a team, and a team willing to work hard. SHS sees the potential of these young ladies and pays to have coaches on their school staff, investing in their futures as athletes. The high school allowing young women to play a sport they love is great, but if these women wish to pursue a scholarship or full ride for this sport at the collegiate level it is sad to know that the university in their own hometown does not even allow them that option. Stillwater High is trying to help build bridges for their student’s futures while Oklahoma State is putting blocks in the road ahead of them. The girls who are relying on scholarships for volleyball have to choose a school outside of their hometown, or even worse, decide between staying behind to help their family or getting a secondary education elsewhere simply because OSU lacks a program they need.
Deciding on a college is already hard enough so why make it more difficult by factoring in the potential of being forced to leave family behind? If OSU is wanting to make next level education easier to access for people in their local community, and less complicated, then why do they fail to give back to the same community? The solution is quite simple, and it is to just formulate a volleyball team at Oklahoma State University. Instead, prospective OSU students are being pushed out and forced to choose another school to accommodate their needs. Reaching out to an old friend whom I used to play volleyball with, I asked her why she chose not to attend OSU, and her answer was, “I have always been an OSU fan and wanted to attend school there, but I also wanted to play volleyball in college. Instead, I had to choose a different school to go to so I could continue playing so that is why I chose Oklahoma Baptist University” (Addington 2023). This is just one perspective of a girl who spent her middle school and high school careers playing a sport she loved and counting on earning a scholarship for college. She practiced numerous hours a week and poured her blood, sweat, and tears into this sport. We come from a school an hour South of Stillwater and OSU not having a volleyball team still had a huge impact on her, so imagine the impact that OSU has on high school students from within Stillwater. Starting a volleyball team here at the university would greatly help those in need of such a scholarship and it would help increase student numbers, which in turn is helping Shrum reach her ultimate goal. Both sides would win.
Garth Brooks is a well known country singer and is considered a “country music superstar” in Oklahoma (Trammel 2023). He is also an Oklahoma State University Alumni and attended OSU from 1980 to 1984. What a lot of people do not know about Garth Brooks is that “Brooks came from a large family, being one of six kids, and originally came to college on a track scholarship for javelin throwing” (Trammel 2023). The only way he could pay for college was through scholarships. Brook’s dad knew he wanted his kids to go to college, but struggled with how to get them there due to lack of resources and money. Garth working hard in his high school career to earn himself a scholarship to go play in college was the best thing he could do for himself. It was not about how he wanted to play at the next level, but rather a way for him to get to the next level. He never planned on going pro, but his athletic scholarship gave him a chance to go to OSU. In a way Garth’s scholarship was what led him to becoming a country music singer, because if he had never received his sports scholarship he would have never attended Oklahoma State. Therefore, he would have never discovered his talent and passion for music. A single sports scholarship changed everything for him and it could do the same for others.
When I turned to Google for answers on why Oklahoma State University has yet to build a volleyball team, I found a meek explanation. First off, “OSU is the only Big 12 school that doesn’t compete in volleyball. Instead, OSU added equestrian. It remains one of the few schools nationally without a volleyball program” (Capps 1999). The Oklahoman published this article over 20 years ago and it still stands true that OSU is the only Big 12 school without volleyball. While it is cool that the university added an underrepresented sport, such as equestrian, I truly believe more people, and the school, would have benefited from adding volleyball instead. Oklahoma State has also not budged in 20 years on their reasons for not hosting this sport; “There were two reasons for the choice: OSU doesn’t have the gym space right now to support a program, and volleyball isn’t that popular in Oklahoma” (Capps 1999). However, OSU does seem to have the gym space. They can use the basketball gym for volleyball practices and games. The two sports would just have to communicate who gets gym space and when. Basketball was here first so it is only fair that they get priority, but if the people of power at OSU wanted to make volleyball happen they could. It is not hard to set up a net in a gym that accommodates such a sport to begin with. Anything is possible if you just work hard enough. Their other reason for not adding this sport is that there are not enough girls playing in Oklahoma to recruit girls to come play at the university, but that is simply not true. According to News 9, “eight years ago, there were about 55 girl’s high school volleyball teams in Oklahoma. Today, there are one-hundred-eleven, and interest in the game has spurred the proliferation of the sport in the state” (News on 6 2001). The numbers nearly doubled in less than a decade and these numbers continue to increase each year. While I could not find statistics on how many teams there are in 2023, we at least know that numbers are not declining nor staying static. Finding girls to play the sport, like my friend from back home, and others who wish to come to Oklahoma State should not even be a challenge anymore. So what is stopping Oklahoma State now? People are waiting for OSU to open up new opportunities and now is the time to do it.
Volleyball is a popular sport and has increased in numbers over the last 20 years no matter how much Oklahoma State tries to deny the truth. Adding a volleyball team to the many other sports OSU has to offer would broaden scholarships for their local community and even kids from all over Oklahoma. If Oklahoma State University wants to become the pre-eminent land-grant university they aspire to be then they need to highly consider adding volleyball. There is an easy solution to an unnecessary, complicated problem. Open your eyes Oklahoma State University and help your state. Your community is counting on you to do better.
Works Cited
Addington, Taya. Text message to Alyssa Brawdy. 11 Sept. 2023.
Capps, Reilly. “Volleyball Not Exactly Spike-Tacular in State.” The Oklahoman, Oklahoman, 3 Nov. 1999, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1999/11/03/volleyball-not-exactly-spike-tacular-in-state/62222783007/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.
News On 6. “Oklahoma Volleyball.” Breaking News in Oklahoma City, OK, 20 Aug. 2001, https://www.news9.com/story/5e3681592f69d76f62095a24/oklahoma-volleyball. Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.
The Land-Grant Tradition. National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, 2005.
Tramel, Jimmie. “Garth Brooks Returns to Stillwater for Concerts to Boost OSU Scholarship Mission.” Tulsa World, 15 Apr. 2023, https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/music/garth-brooks-returns-to-stillwater-for-concert s-to-boost-osu-scholarship-mission/article_3c75e98a-d961-11ed-8c55-7b827c1fd9b9.html#:~:text=Brooks%20attended%20OSU%20on%20a,you%20see%3F%E2%80%9D%20h e%20said. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023.
“We Are Land-Grant: Uncommon Preeminence for the Common Good.” YouTube, uploaded by Oklahoma State University, 12 Oct. 2022, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKUa785coQk.
archiveoklahoma.com 