Sept. 22 marked a special day for North Division High School, as the Blue Devils opened their volleyball season against the Riverside Tigers at home, the team’s first match in 34 years. 

For senior Nevaeh Stovall, putting on the jersey was personal. 

“It’s been an honor… It’s been so long, and now we’re starting to have volleyball back.” 

North Division previously fielded a varsity-level volleyball team from 1975-92. Over 17 seasons, the program won just seven matches. The Blue Devils’ volleyball program has been shuttered ever since. 

Over the past year, students, staff, and district leaders began to discuss the notion of bringing volleyball back to North Division. Athletic director Derrick Shoates was one of its strongest supporters. 

Shoates moved into the athletic director role midway through the 2022-23 school year, so his first full year came the following fall. That’s when he noticed what North Division’s girls sports programs were lacking.

“I was able to see how much of a disadvantage we were as a school community, not having an official girls sport until girls basketball,” Shoates said. “Sports are our biggest character development tool we have here. If we so happen to find an athlete that’s good enough to make it professional, that’s beautiful. But our first goal is hopefully to use this tool to develop character, use this goal to hopefully get a few young people into college for free, and then we will see where it goes from there.”

Shoates said the district’s support made the program possible. Milwaukee Public Schools received federal funding to safely reopen schools, maintain operations, and address the impact of COVID-19 on students’ social and emotional well-being. As part of the funding initiatives, the district prioritized upgrades to athletic facilities throughout the city, including a large-scale renovation of the multi-sport fieldhouse at North Division.

“Why [wouldn’t] the north side of Milwaukee deserve a program? The district has done an excellent job at getting behind us [by building] a beautiful gym and now it’s time for us to fill it with programs. For us, volleyball is that vehicle to be able to achieve that.”

Coach Mary Cunningham-Watts was critical to the return of the program. She asked Shoates what it would take to get a team started, and he laid out the steps and backed her through the process.

Cunningham-Watts has a long history with the sport. She played volleyball at Messmer High School from 2004-08 and UW-Waukesha for two years, before returning to Messmer as an assistant coach for the girls varsity team and later as head coach for the JV team. 

She joined North Division as a special education paraprofessional in 2015, and became the girls’ basketball coach in 2018. This season, she is the school’s first volleyball head coach in over three decades. 

“I want the program to be impacted by the girls to be excited to play sports again, and having a mindset that there is another thing besides the typical girls basketball and cheerleading sports.” 

North Division worked with Milwaukee City Conference administrative staff to form a co-op team alongside Washington High School and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning. Players from all three schools practice together and play under the North Division name. 

Recruiting players was one of the biggest hurdles, but after Cunningham-Watts spent lunch hours promoting the team, roughly 26 girls ultimately showed interest. Over the summer, the group held workouts, followed by tryouts at the start of the fall season. Cunningham-Watts cut the team to 11 players. 

“It was my idea, but they brought it to life. They wanted to do it and I’m glad to be coaching.” 

Volleyball has already changed the school’s culture. Shoates has seen this first wave of  student-athletes grow on and off the court, as the program gives them a way to incorporate structure into their lives. 

“It’s really special to see. There are young ladies I’ve been able to watch develop since their freshman year, and always felt like they could benefit from the structure of competition,” Shoates said. “We didn’t have [a sport] that captured their imagination… but now you are able to see the application of leadership within certain students that didn’t really have the venue for before.” 

Stovall waited a long time for this opportunity. Before this season, she only played volleyball in gym class, at recess, and with her family.

“I went to Andrew Douglas Middle School, [and] we used to—for recess—play volleyball. And I always wanted to play but I never had a real team to play against different schools.” 

Volleyball is her first high school sport, and she said she’s “actually proud of it.”

She credits this team and Cunningham-Watts as a way for her to get involved in North Division.

“We’ve created a sisterhood between each other. The motivation between the coach and the team is very strong.”

On Saturday, Oct. 17, the Blue Devils wrapped up their season with a win over Madison in the conference tournament, earning third place honors in the MCC White Division.

Stovall doesn’t plan to play volleyball after graduation but she’s encouraged others to join.

“I recommend people to come join the team. We’re not only just teammates, we’re a family, and I really love this team.”

For Watts, bringing the program back is only the beginning. She wants to keep growing it, and she is “grateful for what it’s doing now and where it’s going to go.”