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Post by Chance on Jan 16, 2007 15:23:55 GMT -5
If black players are actually less likely to be backrow players / setters as compared to white players, here would be my hypothesis.
Black people, on average, tend to be less wealthy than white people. Wealthy people tend to come from wealthy families, and slavery, and then severe racism, made it hard for black families to accumulate wealth in the past.
I'm not a volleyball expert, but I would guess that athletisicm plays a bigger role in front row play than back row play. Of course you still need skill to play the front row, and athletiscm to play the back row, but I'm guessing athletiscm plays a bigger role in the front row, where getting up high and hitting the ball hard are crucial. You want quick setters and DSes to get themselves in good position, but passing and setting can probably only be perfected by incredible amounts of repetition.
Club volleyball is really really expensive, so I'm guessing black people get into it at a lower rate per capita than white players. While almost all college players played some club volleyball, I'm guessing wealthier players starting playing at an early age. A family short of money probably cant pay for their 12 year old to play club, but they might be able to fit it into their budget if their 16 year old is a great athlete and has a chance to get a scholarship.
Also, black people tend to have more ups, and that helps out in the front row.
While I've been at Tennessee, i think we've actually had more black backrow players than frontrow players. We've had one OH, one middle blocker, one libero, one DS / S, and one girl who started at OH / L, and wound up at DS.
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Post by Mix Breed-TEXAS,HI,LBSU on Jan 16, 2007 19:41:50 GMT -5
Kim Willoughby was a digging machine....she played outstanding defense and she could pass...
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Post by Gelatinous Mass on Jan 16, 2007 21:48:41 GMT -5
Has anyone come out of the Starlings program and played D1 VB? For anyone who hasn't seen these girls play, they are fun to watch at the Junior level. Nobody has a better attitude than these girls when they play.
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Post by BearClause on Jan 16, 2007 22:19:43 GMT -5
Has anyone come out of the Starlings program and played D1 VB? For anyone who hasn't seen these girls play, they are fun to watch at the Junior level. Nobody has a better attitude than these girls when they play. Starlings certainly isn't race-specific. That being said, I do remember one of their players (from the San Diego area) on scholarship at Florida A&M. Unusual because she was their only player on that team who wasn't international and the only black player on the team at the time. BTW - FAMU is a traditionally black college. They claim over 150 scholarships since they started (perhaps not all D-I) and I would guess that they had many players who might have walked on. Their website seems to be a bit behind, including references to Kim Oden as a coach at Stanford. www.starlings.org/mission_statement.htm
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