Race and the Future of Volleyball- An Honest Discussion
Jan 6, 2015 5:07:02 GMT -5
VolleyTX and NebraskaVBfan93 like this
Post by ay2013 on Jan 6, 2015 5:07:02 GMT -5
(disclaimer- this topic makes assumptions about race and therefore could offend certain posters. If you feel like this may be you, don't read any further)
The other day I had an interesting conversation with some friends of mine. I was at a holiday party and during a conversation I had with a couple, I learned that their 5 year old daughter is very athletically gifted. She is already 4'1'' which is pretty tall for a 5 year old, well built, and her parents were athletes throughout college (football and basketball). Needless to say, she has a lot going for her genetically. The parents were talking about the sports she's in right now, namely t-ball, soccer, and basketball. I asked them if they saw any sort of legit future for their daughter in sports or if they are doing all these activities more for pleasure. They were pretty certain that she was athletically gifted and "with the right motivation" she could get a college scholarship in sports. Obviously, this mentality is nothing new, many parents have these thoughts and aspirations. But when I wondered if they had considered having her play volleyball, they looked at me like I was foreign and scoffed at volleyball as a "recreation" sport.
I want to point out that this family is of african american descent. I make this distinction because it's something I've noticed throughout my years (as a person of color). I tried to reason with them that volleyball is an incredible sport with endless opportunity at the college level for women. And, more notably, for pure athletically gifted minority women. Volleyball just hasn't made the inroads in general african american culture as other sports and I think it's having a negative effect on the future growth of the sport. It's no secret that African Americans, on average, tend to be more athletically gifted (mostly to do with hereditary and social natural selection, aka slavery). For example, African Americans make up the vast majority of NFL and NBA players.....During the conversation I tried to reason with this family regarding how successful a naturally gifted athlete can be at volleyball, and, more importantly, how highly sought after they are by college coaches. I started mentioning how many top rated recruits barely even touched a volleyball until late middle school or high school. I thought about my list and wondered for a bit. I was then asked by a family what I would do if I was in their position. I said these exact words, "get your daughter, right now at the age of 5, to any coach willing to teach her to set, pass, and defend in the backrow, and that would be one of the best opportunities for her to get a college scholarship." I was sort of shocked by that I said, but I knew I was kind of right. Over 1/3 of the 1st team All Americans in the last 6 years have been of African American descent. Of those 31 selections, only 1 could either pass/set/backrow defend at a high level. Everyone else have been first and foremost front row hitters and blockers. Why is that?
Obviously specialization has caused a lot of the disconnect but it seems to be further exacerbated among the African American players. Why is it that we see more and more African Americans littering the top 10 recruit lists and All American lists, but it's almost never for the finer touches of the sport? the passing, the setting, the digging? Even Glass, the lone 1st team All American wasn't rated based on her setting ability coming out of high school. Imagine what she would have looked like if she had solid setting lessons when she was starting middle school? How good could Haley Eckerman be if she spent half as much time passing and defending as she did hitting the ball in her youth? I'd like to to think that all of these outcomes are mere coincidence, but something tells me it's not. I'm not even sure the "finer" touches of the sport among African American players is even unique to volleyball. Almost 70% of the NFL are of African American descent, yet, you go to any best quarterback lists and you will frequently find names like Manning, Brees, Romo, Brady, Rodgers, Rivers, with the occasional mention of an African American player like Wilson, but still it's pretty non-African American dominate when it comes to high profile/high successful QB's in the NFL. Anyway, just thought I'd share
The other day I had an interesting conversation with some friends of mine. I was at a holiday party and during a conversation I had with a couple, I learned that their 5 year old daughter is very athletically gifted. She is already 4'1'' which is pretty tall for a 5 year old, well built, and her parents were athletes throughout college (football and basketball). Needless to say, she has a lot going for her genetically. The parents were talking about the sports she's in right now, namely t-ball, soccer, and basketball. I asked them if they saw any sort of legit future for their daughter in sports or if they are doing all these activities more for pleasure. They were pretty certain that she was athletically gifted and "with the right motivation" she could get a college scholarship in sports. Obviously, this mentality is nothing new, many parents have these thoughts and aspirations. But when I wondered if they had considered having her play volleyball, they looked at me like I was foreign and scoffed at volleyball as a "recreation" sport.
I want to point out that this family is of african american descent. I make this distinction because it's something I've noticed throughout my years (as a person of color). I tried to reason with them that volleyball is an incredible sport with endless opportunity at the college level for women. And, more notably, for pure athletically gifted minority women. Volleyball just hasn't made the inroads in general african american culture as other sports and I think it's having a negative effect on the future growth of the sport. It's no secret that African Americans, on average, tend to be more athletically gifted (mostly to do with hereditary and social natural selection, aka slavery). For example, African Americans make up the vast majority of NFL and NBA players.....During the conversation I tried to reason with this family regarding how successful a naturally gifted athlete can be at volleyball, and, more importantly, how highly sought after they are by college coaches. I started mentioning how many top rated recruits barely even touched a volleyball until late middle school or high school. I thought about my list and wondered for a bit. I was then asked by a family what I would do if I was in their position. I said these exact words, "get your daughter, right now at the age of 5, to any coach willing to teach her to set, pass, and defend in the backrow, and that would be one of the best opportunities for her to get a college scholarship." I was sort of shocked by that I said, but I knew I was kind of right. Over 1/3 of the 1st team All Americans in the last 6 years have been of African American descent. Of those 31 selections, only 1 could either pass/set/backrow defend at a high level. Everyone else have been first and foremost front row hitters and blockers. Why is that?
Obviously specialization has caused a lot of the disconnect but it seems to be further exacerbated among the African American players. Why is it that we see more and more African Americans littering the top 10 recruit lists and All American lists, but it's almost never for the finer touches of the sport? the passing, the setting, the digging? Even Glass, the lone 1st team All American wasn't rated based on her setting ability coming out of high school. Imagine what she would have looked like if she had solid setting lessons when she was starting middle school? How good could Haley Eckerman be if she spent half as much time passing and defending as she did hitting the ball in her youth? I'd like to to think that all of these outcomes are mere coincidence, but something tells me it's not. I'm not even sure the "finer" touches of the sport among African American players is even unique to volleyball. Almost 70% of the NFL are of African American descent, yet, you go to any best quarterback lists and you will frequently find names like Manning, Brees, Romo, Brady, Rodgers, Rivers, with the occasional mention of an African American player like Wilson, but still it's pretty non-African American dominate when it comes to high profile/high successful QB's in the NFL. Anyway, just thought I'd share