im seeing an explosion of interest in womens volleyball, both in fans and female interest in participating.
I used to play volleyball at the youth club level before switching to running and soccer later on. Volleyball can attract "mean girls," and if you're not tall, you're not going to make it at the college level unless you're a dreaded libero.
I watch v-ball now and can't stand it. So many other sports require so much more skill, but I probably just got sick of it.
I totally get what you mean about volleyball having a tendency to attract "mean girls". I follow women's volleyball somewhat and I can totally tell there is a "mean girl" with a lot of them because they think so highly of themselves. I think it has a lot to do with the mandatory and excessive fake celebrations after EVERY. SINGLE. PLAY. It forces you to be fake or attracts those that are fake and not authentic.
If you ever want to experience a real clash of cultures, go to a WNBA game. You've got fathers with their teen-age daughters... and you've got, for lack of a more graceful term, hardcore lesbians.
Friend of mine played basketball for San Diego State in the 1970"s and she said she was the only straight player on the squad...
Girls and women are not teased for playing basketball. The answer to every societal issue doesn't have to be related to social conditioning. Believe it or not, people have more than one motivation to do pursue an interest other than it being popular/unpopular.
I think it's just a matter of athletic traits that basketball selects for. For whatever reason, women (on average) just don't seem to have the equivalent athleticism as men to be good at it. If they did, then there wouldn't be such a disparity between the average score of a WBNA and NBA game after they lowered the hoop and ball size. You just don't see as many women dunking and draining 3's. However, when I compare a men's and women's volleyball match, you still see just as many women able to spike the ball as the guy's, they just hit softer and run slower, but they still have all the technical aspects as the men.
I agree to a point. However article states several teams having issues fielding enough players to make a team. Not everyone needs to be super tall to play basketball. For whatever reason girls are less interested in doing it.
What people should be concerned about is the lack of volunteer officials at the high school level. High school football can't sustain. Go to Arena League concept. Platoon football where players play both offense & defense. Cut the roster by 60%.
Track needs to streamline because of this also. Get rid of pole Vault (or move it to X Games).
Get rid of hop, step & jump (the Ministry of Silly Walks of T&F).
Get rid of hammer throw and eliminate either jav or discuss.
The thing with girls basketball, at least in my area, is that it is not competitive. You see teams of girls who can't even draw net from the free throw line going up against teams of girls that run motion offense and make shoot 3 pointers. It isn't pretty, my daughter's team won one game 70-2. Pretty much every other team sport has some sort of rule in place to keep scores from getting lopsided. Softball has the run rule. In volleyball you get points when the other team messes up. Soccer is naturally low scoring.
If you ever want to experience a real clash of cultures, go to a WNBA game. You've got fathers with their teen-age daughters... and you've got, for lack of a more graceful term, hardcore lesbians.
Friend of mine played basketball for San Diego State in the 1970"s and she said she was the only straight player on the squad...
I dated some girls on the swim team, track team and soccer team in college. I could never get one of the basketball players to go out with me. My close friend who married one of the cheerleaders at our college had a similar lack of success with the basketball team. We both decided down the road that it was because most of them were dating one another.
Don't be a Negative Nancy. The secret to being tall in basketball is that most of them are doping on HGH when young, enabled by their parents. Makes you grow.
Anyway, I think sports that require height like basketball are just not going to be appealing going forward. There are just a lot more choices now in terms of what people can do with their time, sport and non-sport. E-sports, anyone?
Some say running appeals to only skinny white girls, but I happened to just run past a girls' cross country meet with females with all shapes, heights, and races. Maybe they won't all make state, but they are allowed on the team to participate. Basically every other sport requires you to try out.
Volleyball has the same height requirements. Basketball is a high skill sport to play at even a low level. You could see this is middle school gym class. People could play VB poorly. Basketball was hopeless for people that didn't play.
I think it's just a matter of athletic traits that basketball selects for. For whatever reason, women (on average) just don't seem to have the equivalent athleticism as men to be good at it. If they did, then there wouldn't be such a disparity between the average score of a WBNA and NBA game after they lowered the hoop and ball size. You just don't see as many women dunking and draining 3's. However, when I compare a men's and women's volleyball match, you still see just as many women able to spike the ball as the guy's, they just hit softer and run slower, but they still have all the technical aspects as the men.
I sort of agree with you. Top men's volleytball attacks are ballpark around the top of the antenna, which is anout 3.25m high. Top women's volleyball attacks are ballpark mid antenna, or about 2.65m high.
I think it's just a matter of athletic traits that basketball selects for. For whatever reason, women (on average) just don't seem to have the equivalent athleticism as men to be good at it. If they did, then there wouldn't be such a disparity between the average score of a WBNA and NBA game after they lowered the hoop and ball size. You just don't see as many women dunking and draining 3's. However, when I compare a men's and women's volleyball match, you still see just as many women able to spike the ball as the guy's, they just hit softer and run slower, but they still have all the technical aspects as the men.
WNBA did not lower the hoop.
They have 40 min games as opposed to 48 min games in NBA. (Hence the lower scores.)
The volleyball net is lower for women. (2.24m as opposed to 2.43m)
was fascinated by your experience in volleyball. it's a favorite sport of mine to watch and I haven't even seen the ultra competitive European pro leagues. I always thought the constant huddle up after every point won or given, was a bit too much however.
The NFHS is the national leader and advocate for high school athletics as well as fine and performing arts programs. Within our 51 member state associations, we serve 19,500 high schools and more than 12 million young people.
Basketball has always had the problem of only allowing 5 kids to play at a time. In the old days kids were willing to sit on the bench for the season just to be on the team or for a few minutes of playing time here or there. Now kids have so many other options, there are more sports available and many more extra curricular activities. Socially I don't think kids get as much of a bump from being on the basketball team anymore as they used to.
If you can’t get up and slam dunk a basketball I can’t see it being very fun or appealing. Its like hockey without the slap shot, baseball without the fastball, or volleyball without the spike. I could never dunk a basketball but I always wish I could. if I could I’d probably play basketball because it would be way more fun. I can’t see how women’s basketball is any fun when the goal is too high for them. Even in women’s volleyball the net is lowered for them and the net is already low to begin with , 8 feet for men’s.
I totally get what you mean about volleyball having a tendency to attract "mean girls". I follow women's volleyball somewhat and I can totally tell there is a "mean girl" with a lot of them because they think so highly of themselves. I think it has a lot to do with the mandatory and excessive fake celebrations after EVERY. SINGLE. PLAY. It forces you to be fake or attracts those that are fake and not authentic.
That is nothing. After every track event the women give each other fake celebration hugs. You can see the hate in their eyes, but they are going in for that fake hug nonetheless. It is painful to watch.
Super interesting article. Ive noticed girls less and less into basketball. Simply put, its not "cute" and girls would rather play volleyball wearing cute shorts or run track with spandex. They are less inclined to play basketball where most of the college and professional players are all lesbians(remember the story of the straight wnba player who quit due to being teased for liking men by her team).
In the age of Instagram and TikTok, basketball also suffers in comparison with sports perceived to be “girlier,” Gliebe said.
“I think the biggest reason for girls not participating in basketball, and I know this is silly: It’s not a ‘cute’ sport,” said Gliebe, mentioning the skirts worn in tennis and the spandex shorts worn in volleyball and running. She said she hopes the practice of WNBA players wearing glamorous outfits into arenas helps the game appeal more to teenagers
It's not track but I have noticed in our state that XC numbers have been going on a downward trend for the past ten years. Our team is down about 40% since 2011 and we are now the largest team in our state but we were not back then.
Basketball has always had the problem of only allowing 5 kids to play at a time. In the old days kids were willing to sit on the bench for the season just to be on the team or for a few minutes of playing time here or there. Now kids have so many other options, there are more sports available and many more extra curricular activities. Socially I don't think kids get as much of a bump from being on the basketball team anymore as they used to.
Bingo. 5 kids on the floor and 7 kids on the bench is an ego builder for some two-bit coach who fancies himself as an NCAA champion.
Super interesting article. Ive noticed girls less and less into basketball. Simply put, its not "cute" and girls would rather play volleyball wearing cute shorts or run track with spandex. They are less inclined to play basketball where most of the college and professional players are all lesbians(remember the story of the straight wnba player who quit due to being teased for liking men by her team).
It's not track but I have noticed in our state that XC numbers have been going on a downward trend for the past ten years. Our team is down about 40% since 2011 and we are now the largest team in our state but we were not back then.
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