CHSAA, The Colorado High School Activities Association, is considering sanctioning 3 new sports, Boys Volleyball, Girls Wrestling, and Unified Bowling.

The path to sanctioning begins with getting approval to pilot the sport from CHSAA.

Once approval is gained the sport can begin piloting.

“It goes for a two year cycle, so they pilot it for two years, then CHSAA will vote on it,” Assistant Athletics Director Mark Goldsberry said.

He also mentioned that if a sport makes it to the pilot stage it usually passes and becomes a new official sport.

“Them alone getting into the pilot program is huge,” Goldsberry said.

Many other states currently sanction volleyball and 7 others are currently considering it along with Colorado.

“Boys volleyball is sanctioned in most states, so we’re kind of behind the curve on that,” Goldsberry said.

Some changes are also coming with the pilot seasons.

“We will be a creek only team instead of a district team,” Boys Volleyball Coach Mike Degitis said.

Girls wrestling is currently sanctioned in six states and three others have indicated an intent to sanction it according to the CHSAA website.

As these sports become more popular, schools expect more and more people to go out for them. One of the big parts of becoming a sanctioned sport is the gain in popularity and authenticity.

“To get girls wrestling, how awesome is that,” Goldsberry said.

According to CHSAA, in the 2017-2018 season girls wrestling was not a sanctioned sport however they were allowed to compete on the school team alongside boys and there were a few girls-only matches.

If the legislative council approves the new sports in 2019 Boys volleyball would begin play in 2020 and girls wrestling would begin play in the winter of 2020-21.

Unified bowling has not yet released a timeline for it’s pilot season.