Students on the Metro High School girl’s volleyball team wait in the stands Sept. 7, 2010, during a game at Pathways Christian School in Kalona. (Metro High School)

Students at alternative school Metro High are taking to the volleyball court for the first time ever.

More than 12 girls have joined the new team, which practice four times a week and competes against other small schools in Eastern Iowa.

Coach Dawn Bouzek said that the girls are a mix of seasoned student athletes and some who have never played volleyball competitively before. She hopes that the girls will learn the value of  sportsmanship during the course of the season.

“We’re really trying to instill in them the value of being part of a team,” Bouzek said.

The school does not have an athletics budget, so there has been some difficulty in coming up with funding for the team. The Metro High School gym is not big enough to properly accommodate a volleyball court, so the team splits its practice between the school and the Jane Boyd Community House. Four of the athletes on the teams are mothers and have to find day care for their children from 2:45 to 4:00 p.m. when the team practices.

This is Metro’s second venture into athletics after starting a boy’s basketball team two years ago. The basketball team competes in a league consisting of other alternative high schools in the area, such as Tate High School in Iowa City. Bouzek said that no other alternative high schools in the area have volleyball teams yet, so they mainly compete with smaller schools such as Pathways Christian School in Kalona, Cedar Valley Christian School in Cedar Rapids, and some regional teams made up of home school students.

“They’re not sanctioned high school games, but we still want to continue to be a competitive team,” Bouzek said.