9-24-2022 4:34am

Coach Helps To Spike Interest In Boyertown Volleyball

Lesley Misko Editor

BASH volleyball player Kyra Neiswender prepares to serve.

Striving to serve up victories, the BASH girls volleyball team is one of the newer Boyertown sports and currently in its sixth full year.

Coach Mike Ludwig could not be happier. A long-time teacher in the school district, Ludwig had “been trying for 28 years to get a team going, but it never worked out.” Then in 2015 he coached a one- year club program that was expanded, got school board approval, and was added to the BASH sports roster in 2016.

In addition to the high school team, Ludwig explains that there is a club program available for girls in fifth through ninth grades. That program serves about 100 girls and Ludwig is pleased “it provides more kids with opportunities to participate in this great sport.” Ludwig is grateful for the help he gets from two assistant coaches, Bonnie Wood, whom he describes as “there from the beginning,” and Savannah Derstine, who is a former player on the team.

“I always liked and had a passion for volleyball,” Ludwig shares. He knew that given a chance, Boyertown would love it too. “I had played when I was in high school and then played club volleyball during college. I got my daughter involved too,” he adds.

The team, with 14 varsity and 12 JV players, has a busy season with 22 regular season games, plus, hopefully, the playoffs. “We won the league the last two years,” Coach Ludwig points out with pride. “The team is working hard and doing a good job,” he says, “and I encourage them to build on failures rather than feeling defeated by them.” Last night the team notched a 3-0 victory over Norristown.

Ludwig points to seniors Carly Little and Chloe Wolfe, as “big hitters who are a big part of the team’s success,” but he notes that all seniors play a leadership role, functioning as team captains. Senior recognition is planned for the last regular home game of the season, Oct. 13 at 6:30, versus Pope John Paul II High School.

Volleyball has traveled a distance from a gym in Massachusetts where the sport was first invented in 1895. It is now one of the five biggest international sports, and it clearly has a strong future in Boyertown.