Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.
With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"![]()
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly
However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.
(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)
Geno Auriemma: "The big difference between a really good player and a great player is: great players don't get tired. They just don't. And what makes them great is when the good players get tired the great players kick their ass. That's the difference. So everyday we're working on that. Everyday we're working on that. We can coach ball screens, passing into the post, cutting, and play defense, but we're just not here to coach your energy level or your effort. That's a given. You wouldn't be here if I had to coach that. That's what other coaches have to do, they have to coach energy. I don't. Ya'll know that, ya'll know that."
Anonymous wrote:My vball player and her friends played soccer all through grade school but mine just didn't enjoy the big field play of soccer, or the players on other teams kicking her shins or elbowing her chest all the time. I think the small, close-in action (but without players from the other team trying to foul you all the time) is more her speed. She's also not really a sprinter, so that held her back in soccer, but she's training cardio and weights for volleyball.
One thing I don't like about vball is the emphasis on height -- the college players, even at Div 3, are all over 5"10' except the librero (who still is typically taller than average). So a lot of girls get pushed out because they just aren't going to be that tall -- you basically have to be within the top 5% of women by height to be able to keep playing. My daughter is 5'7" as a 13 year old, but that's apparently short for a volleyball player.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Sport for non-runners.
Indoors so no bugs or extreme heat or cold.
Non-contact sport.
Minimal sweating, so you still look cute while being a badass on the court.
Hahaha yes. This is my ex-soccer player.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:So my point is being proven. VB is for girls who are "lazier" than girls who do other higher cardio sports.
My DD included. No shame!
I get it. There is a hierarchy of cardio output required that determine how valid a sport is. So does that make cross country (or maybe distance swimming or middle distance track events) the pinnacle of all sports? Is an athlete lazy because they choose to play soccer instead of running cross country?
Anonymous wrote:So my point is being proven. VB is for girls who are "lazier" than girls who do other higher cardio sports.
My DD included. No shame!
Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.
With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"![]()
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly
However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.
(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Out softball league has a vague sense that we are losing athletes to volleyball.
No offense, but softball sucks, no wonder girls are looking for a different sport.
Yeah. I played softball when I was 9-12 as a kid and I was always irritated we weren’t just playing baseball. I even asked my mom if I could do little league but she said no. Now I see they’ve added full face shields to the sport and it just adds to the insult. No other sport besides football/hockey is doing that. Are we teaching girls to the that scared? I digress…
OP- a lot of these athletes popping up in Volleyball are kids who had their sport shut down or minimized during the pandemic. They tried to stick with it or maybe tried to do something else that was available. My daughter has tried every sport out there and stuck with a few for more than 1 season but recently discovered a love for volleyball through a school team. She had an athletic background so picking up volleyball wasn’t hard for her.
Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.
With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"![]()
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly
However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.
(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Sport for non-runners.
Indoors so no bugs or extreme heat or cold.
Non-contact sport.
Minimal sweating, so you still look cute while being a badass on the court.
Minimal sweating because you're indoors? Have you ever played volleyball in a high school gym in the early fall? It is hot as hell in those gyms!
Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.
With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"![]()
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly
However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.
(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)
Anonymous wrote:At the risk of starting an 'online war', I just want to first state that I'm a total volleyball dad and have and continue to support my daughters playing school and club volleyball.
With that being said, I acknowledge the benefits of volleyball:
- a team sport where individual players learn team dynamics (in comparison to an individual sport... but I'm not slamming individual sports. Just good to know what it means to be a "team player"![]()
- relatively "non-"contact compared to other sports like soccer and basketball. (Crashes can still occur as evident by my daughters' teammates with broken bones and concussions after colliding.)
- the indoor part is great when it's below freezing outside and/or the wind is >15 mph...
- development of athletic and technical skills, communication, and flexibility/decision-making on the fly
However, I have to acknowledge quite a few cons of the sport:
- it's a sport that biases towards those with height. The shorter players have to work 'harder' to get notice and are often limited to certain positions (i.e. DS, libero, setters for coaches who are ok with shorter setters...).
- unless coaches are willing to work on this (and not every coach is the same, but that also applies to other sports), volleyball is not a sport that lends itself to cardiovascular development. Quick reflexes and twitch muscles are key but players do not need to 'run' as much. I have observed many close matches that went to the team with better endurance and conditioning. And, unfortunately, it's not often 'fair' when the teams have to play 3 matches straight (with 3 sets) while the opposing team had the easier bracket and has been resting.
(Ok, let the tomatoes fly!)
Anonymous wrote:Damn volleyball a joke