The need for Icons - where have all the good guys

[akbar]

This topic I feel still needs to be addressed by our little VB world and wholeheartedly addressed by USA Volleyball.

Who do young players have to look up to.....try to emulate.

Growing up with sports I was enamored with baseball, hockey, basketball and football cards, statistics, clutch players in every sport. I was amazed at the knowledge of older men concerning sports situations, statistics and situational plays.

Having my dad teach me how to read a box score and watching my grandfather keep a scorecard for Boston games via the radio.

I know this is still prevalent to a certain extent and certainly with the advent of fantasy league the almighty statistic has a new use.

To the point.

What I learned is to love the game .....what ever game it was....and learn through not only my own personal experience but through trying to emulate others.

Do kids this day still know who Roger Banister is?

Do kids know how to pick teams by using a baseball bat?

Long story short:
Growing up through I and I'm sure other players learned of, admired and wanted to be like:
Berzins, Kiraly, Timmons, Dvorak, Salmons, Esteban Martinez, Yoo Chang Chang, Bernard Rajmun, Joel Despaigne, William Da Silva, Maricio Lima, Raul Quiroca, Eric Bouvier, Jaroslav Antanov, Dmitry Fomin hey even Garth Pischke Blah blah blah

It seems to me that we are so apt to hammer an individual and or team for their faults to the core of that person or team.

Outside of Matty Z. and Robert Tarr in the college ranks every player and coach has/had been fair game to an almost brutal point.
Mind you both these guys are very good hard working players but no one goes after them......why.......simple Matty is honest , doesn't hide who he is, is supportive of his teammates and Robert has his Mom outthere given us her best "as much as a mother can be" objective view on the and I might add valued collegiate game.


What I am saying is quite simple. Instead of harping on the negative slams I would like to elicit some constructive observations from everyone on not just who is the best/worst but rather what some of our younger readers should or could look for in certain players in college or pros to try to emulate.

I applaud the efforts of middlehitter.com's efforts to keep us updated and the streamline video that he has provided......it would be really cool if some of our experts broke doen a situation/game to share with our readers what to look for in a sequence.


oh....howbout that 'cuse upset.......any given day

[cyberVBmidwest]

I agree with ackbar.

It would be nice to see some fans who prefer to give back or participate in growing the sport for men versus JUST sharing their opinions. I am sure there are many VTers that do coach, ref or volunteer but I sure hope the most outspoken members aren't showing their attitude to today's youth. If someone feels that mens VB is falling apart, will only shrink, etc... then it obvious they are not helping out with todays vb youth. If they would, then they would see the passion, especially in the younger kids (16 and under).

The younger kids just cannot get enough volleyball. They cant sit still between matches, they will end up playing some game on an empty court or in a corner somewhere (probably hitting people trying to watch the current matches). They love to watch the older kids play. I remember taking a 14's team to go to the gym where the 18's were playing in the same tournament. They loved the power they saw and would be amazed when someone would dig a blast inside the 10' line. They loved to watch Sean Rooney during warm ups because he would almost always bounce the ball into the upper balcony where they were sitting.

Unfortunately, as they become juniors and especially seniors, reality starts setting in for most of them. They aren't getting the letters or emails from one of the 21 DI schools like a small number of the taller/higher vertical reach players. Their attitude changes and a few drop out. One thing that keeps them interested is the fact that club season will provide them a better chance to be their high school star or at least get decent playing time. There are less than 400 DI spots on rosters and less than 100 scholarships. They love the game but realize they aren't going to play at what they think is the next level.

Sadder is the fact that there are 50+ other schools that have varsity volleyball programs and many of the kids don't know very much if anything about those programs. The schools don't have the budget to recruit. Just think if more of these players got into varsity programs improving their teams overall playing level. They may not be ready for MSPF but their caliber of play would certainly rise. Just think of the kids behind the blue curtain or sitting on the bench of the DI schools. What if they saw other schools as an opportunity to start right away and start the building of a program? The talent off the DI bench would improve mens volleyball if they were at other schools. Once again, they may not be ready for MSPF but if enough of them moved over, they would start to be competitive, the programs would get more notoriety and hopefully draw new talent every year.

Sorry, time to get off the soap box. But if you want to complain about the "sorry" state of mens vb, then get off your duff and volunteer in some manner in actively supporting boys volleyball. You might actually see a brighter future!