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Post by chancelucky on Jan 6, 2015 14:44:06 GMT -5
that might be a better explanation for why I didn't notice :}
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Post by northbynw2 on Jan 6, 2015 14:49:26 GMT -5
I like to think of ay as an Ice Dancer, dressed in an all-white jumpsuit, and doing an interpretive dance of my life.
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Post by bigfan on Jan 6, 2015 15:17:12 GMT -5
The kid is 5... FIVE... the parents need to slow their roll by about 10 years I already see burnout. Never let the child play any organized sports......................I see a future as doctor, lawyer and burnout member of volleytalk. Some one get these parents up to speed about Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis [burned out] and Monica Seles[Psycho father]
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Post by #skoskers on Jan 6, 2015 16:22:31 GMT -5
Whoa! Fix the quote above, bigfan! ^^^
It looks as if I'm the one making the comment about Jews and English rock bands.
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Post by ncaavballguru on Jan 6, 2015 17:39:56 GMT -5
After reading through all the exceedingly long and mostly boring posts in this thread I have concluded that it must really suck to be a short, unathletic black kid trying to play the libero position in club volleyball.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2015 17:43:30 GMT -5
I sure hope the gun being held to your head isn't loaded.
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Post by NebraskaVBfan93 on Jan 6, 2015 19:13:03 GMT -5
Great topic..... and it annoys the !!!!###$$$!!! out of me that people get hung up on all the non-related elements of the first post. Can't we all just be mature enough to ignore that stuff and focus on the real topic? Apparently not.
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Post by gogophers on Jan 6, 2015 19:52:46 GMT -5
Junior volleyball is an upper middle class sport. Even though you don't necessarily have to have a net, the perception is that you do. It is all very structured and are pretty much set up for the upper middle class ethos. Is that really true--I'm focusing on the "upper" part? I'm not saying it isn't. I'm not a club parent; I've seen no studies. The sentiment expressed is one I have heard many times. I just wonder whether it's true. I've not seen the tax returns of any of the Gopher players' families (to cite the group of volleyplayers with which I am most familiar), but I have impressions nonetheless. My impression is that, while some come from what I would consider "upper" middle class, most are from what I would consider the great unwashed middle. I believe that for most players on scholarship that scholarship is a big, big deal. It's a big deal because the families would otherwise have a difficult time financing their daughter's education. My impression is that most club players come from families with decent, not great incomes, who are willing to make the sacrifice, in time and money, to allow their kids to pursue their passions. The relevance of the question I raise to the post is this: there are lots and lots of middle class black families. I don't doubt that the cost of club is a reason why the kids of poorer families don't have volleyball in their horizons. But I don't think that racial economic disparity comes even close to explaining why black girls are so much more taken with basketball than volleyball. By the way, what is the "upper middle class ethos" and how does it differ from the middle middle class ethos? I'm not trying to be snarky. What are the values that the poster thinks are associated only with high earning professionals, as opposed to mid-level management, small business owners, government employees, etc.?
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Post by gogophers on Jan 6, 2015 20:05:43 GMT -5
The original post on this thread focused on a conversation with the parents of a 5 year old, who scoffed at the idea of their daughter having a future as a volleyball player. I agree that volleyball doesn't register much with the black population as a whole, but I wonder how much significance to place on a conversation with anyone whose oldest daughter is just 5. The fact is (so I think) that volleyball is under the radar for the population as a whole. Until I became a fan, I was only vaguely aware that the U of Minn even had a volleyball team, much less one that thousands of fans regularly paid to see, much less that 11 or 12 of the players were on scholarship. I might have realized all these things, if I gave any thought to the matter, but I had no reason to. If I had a daughter of an age where I was starting to think about how to pay for college, I'd probably be more aware of my options. I suspect the family in the original post will become more aware of the options as well.
This is especially true if the family lives in a predominantly white neighborhood, and their daughter's friends are white girls interested in being on a volleyball team. Isn't that how most people get into things? People are imitative. How many (white) collegiate volleyball players took up the sport because a friend or some friends wanted to play, or because an older sister players, or mom did. One of the earlier posts recounted Alisha Glass' history. She grew up in a place where people played volleyball. So, she did, too. When we look at white players, we see noticeable geographic differences. Your chances of being interested and able to be a good volleyball player are going to be a lot higher if you grew up in Southern California than New Hampshire.
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Post by gigibear on Jan 6, 2015 20:28:04 GMT -5
The kid is 5... FIVE... the parents need to slow their roll by about 10 years That would make sense but so many a parent think their kid is the exception. They see Tiger, the Williams sisters, Andre Agassi, etc. who started really young, and think, yes my kid is going to start early. Same with teaching your 2 year old to read and do calculus, all for that illustrious scholarship opportunity and chance to brag. Boy do do I have some stories.... ...and I'm so old I remember volleyball was as sport offered at the Y and local rec centers. When I sent to find my DD a place to play I had no clue club volleyball was it. It was an almost underground movement for all the marketing in my area, and we live in a very well-off community.
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Post by mikegarrison on Jan 6, 2015 20:45:41 GMT -5
The kid is 5... FIVE... the parents need to slow their roll by about 10 years That would make sense but so many a parent think their kid is the exception. They see Tiger, the Williams sisters, Andre Agassi, etc. who started really young, and think, yes my kid is going to start early. Same with teaching your 2 year old to read and do calculus, all for that illustrious scholarship opportunity and chance to brag. Boy do do I have some stories.... Well, I don't know. I was reading before I was 3 and it worked out OK for me. (Not doing calculus, though.)
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Post by tommyboy on Jan 7, 2015 0:12:37 GMT -5
A few thoughts on the subject -
1. It should be a subject that interests all of us as fans of the sport because that is a large segment of the population that is not playing the sport. This is true whether you talk about the black community or the middle/lower class families. The more wide spread we can make the sport, the better chance of it becoming main stream and receiving more recognition.
2. Could the lack of 6 rotation players be a result of black players not picking up volleyball until a later age and therefore are just put in the front row because they can get by easier on raw skills there? As stated earlier, volleyball is a late developing game and players that start earlier (6th-8th grade) may have a better chance to develop all skills.
3. On a side note, when does our country stop using the term "African-American"? It is a division that is completely unnecessary and divides our country. It isn't found anywhere else in the world that I've traveled and is a personal pet peeve, sorry.
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Post by mikegarrison on Jan 7, 2015 1:21:10 GMT -5
3. On a side note, when does our country stop using the term "African-American"? It is a division that is completely unnecessary and divides our country. It isn't found anywhere else in the world that I've traveled and is a personal pet peeve, sorry. Why would "African-American" be found anywhere else in the world?
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Post by thebeach1 on Jan 7, 2015 2:14:32 GMT -5
Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro has always embraced the recruitment of African American student athletes in a sport that is decidedly white. This may be off topic; however, Long Beach State's first national championship, in any sport, was won with 5 African American women in the starting line up.
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Post by tommyboy on Jan 7, 2015 2:14:30 GMT -5
3. On a side note, when does our country stop using the term "African-American"? It is a division that is completely unnecessary and divides our country. It isn't found anywhere else in the world that I've traveled and is a personal pet peeve, sorry. Why would "African-American" be found anywhere else in the world? I'm not necessarily talking about the exact phrase, more of the fact that if you are in Europe and someone is referred to as "African" they are most likely born in Africa. White people aren't referred to as "European Americans" in similar situations in the states. Why is there a difference? In the states anyone that is black is usually referred to with "African-American" even when they are not (ex. dark skinned Caribbean or South American heritage). It has bothered some of my friends in the past, and therefore started to bother me as I noticed it more. Our country seems to have a need to continually separate people as a societal norm and I'm curious as to why? But to your point, if a black US citizen is anywhere else in the world they would not use the term "African-American."
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