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Post by ironhammer on Aug 16, 2021 23:03:10 GMT -5
I remember back in 1999, the US women soccer team becoming the Champions at the World Cup was a breakthrough that triggered a surge of interest from girls who wanted to play soccer and a corresponding increase in funding to women soccer programs at all levels throughout the country. The result was that the US Women soccer team became the no.1 ranked team in the world, winning more World Cup champions and Olympic Golds in succeeding years.
Now that the US women has won gold in volleyball, will there be a similar effect? Will more girls decide to play volleyball, instead of say, basketball or soccer? Will this usher in an era of more gold medal performances and winning more World Championships? Or no, volleyball will always remain a more niche sport in America?
Now its certainly a pleasant and refreshing surprise to see national media outlets that normally ignores volleyball to splash out big headlines and articles on US's volleyball gold. It was nice to see it being reported in detail on CNN, New York Times and Washington Post, for example. But...is the jury still out on the impact of volleyball gold? I saw April Ross and Alix Kineman on the Today Show after their gold medals at the beach. But I don't think I saw the indoor women team getting the same national exposure. Any plans for a ticker tape parade? The Brazil women got it after winning their golds. The US women should at least deserve one.
So, what will be the impact of the gold in US women indoor volleyball, if any?
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Post by staticb on Aug 16, 2021 23:19:36 GMT -5
Volleyball is already the #2 most popular girls sport in the high school system:
Track and Field: 488,267 (most popular sport in 16 states) Volleyball: 452,808 (most popular sport in 21 states) Basketball: 399,067 (most popular sport in two states)
I believe it's also the most played women's sport in college.
What it might be is vindication that the US System is working. We may not have a pro league, but we have a strong club system and a good trainee system in the form of college volleyball. We have different sub rules, but it also allows more girls than ever to play the sport, and that is a huge advantage for us. Our balance and our depth won us the gold medal.
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Post by ironhammer on Aug 16, 2021 23:28:28 GMT -5
Volleyball is already the #2 most popular girls sport in the high school system: Track and Field: 488,267 (most popular sport in 16 states) Volleyball: 452,808 (most popular sport in 21 states) Basketball: 399,067 (most popular sport in two states) I believe it's also the most played women's sport in college. What it might be is vindication that the US System is working. We may not have a pro league, but we have a strong club system and a good trainee system in the form of college volleyball. We have different sub rules, but it also allows more girls than ever to play the sport, and that is a huge advantage for us. Our balance and our depth won us the gold medal. At the grassroot level, yes, there is strong foundation, but until Tokyo the very top level at the other end has not delivered in terms of Olympic Gold. I always wondered why there is this dichotomy for so many years. Would US Gold now means volleyball is now the no.1 girl sport in high school? More money to programs at all levels? Maybe incentives to even arrange a more sustainable pro league in the US? After all, when the US hosted the (men) soccer World Cup in 1994, it ushered in more interest in soccer and motivated the creation of the MLS.
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Post by stevehorn on Aug 17, 2021 15:27:15 GMT -5
I will say there won't be a similar increase in interest. Just not the same circumstances. IMO the biggest accomplishment of the soccer team was eventually a viable pro league which helps sustains the interest in the sport and prevents it from having the massive post-Olympics drop off that occurs in most other "Olympic" sports.
In order to get further significant growth in volleyball, IMO you need a viable pro league in the US.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2021 17:06:06 GMT -5
I can't answer this one either until the grammar is corrected.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2021 17:08:29 GMT -5
OK. I'll go ahead. The impact will be ZERO because the coverage was buried, late at night. And, once again, the stories about the athletes weren't told. Because NBC has no idea how to cover the athletes of team sports, not beyond TWO-player sports. Just compare with April and Alix.
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Post by bbg95 on Aug 17, 2021 17:13:26 GMT -5
I remember back in 1999, the US women soccer team becoming the Champions at the World Cup was a breakthrough that triggered a surge of interest from girls who wanted to play soccer and a corresponding increase in funding to women soccer programs at all levels throughout the country. The result was that the US Women soccer team became the no.1 ranked team in the world, winning more World Cup champions and Olympic Golds in succeeding years.
Now that the US women has won gold in volleyball, will there be a similar effect? Will more girls decide to play volleyball, instead of say, basketball or soccer? Will this usher in an era of more gold medal performances and winning more World Championships? Or no, volleyball will always remain a more niche sport in America?
Now its certainly a pleasant and refreshing surprise to see national media outlets that normally ignores volleyball to splash out big headlines and articles on US's volleyball gold. It was nice to see it being reported in detail on CNN, New York Times and Washington Post, for example. But...is the jury still out on the impact of volleyball gold? I saw April Ross and Alix Kineman on the Today Show after their gold medals at the beach. But I don't think I saw the indoor women team getting the same national exposure. Any plans for a ticker tape parade? The Brazil women got it after winning their golds. The US women should at least deserve one.
So, what will be the impact of the gold in US women indoor volleyball, if any?
So I think the impact of the 1999 team is a little overblown. The US already had a major advantage in women's soccer over many other countries due to the combination of NCAA system and the complete neglect on the part of many of the traditional men's soccer powers. In fact, the US won the inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991 while going undefeated and having a goal differential of +20 in six matches. The US also won the gold medal in the 1996 Olympics, the first time women's soccer had been contested there. In between, they finished third in the 1995 Women's World Cup, losing a 1-0 semifinal to eventual champion Norway. The 1999 team got more attention because the WWC was held in the US and because it was decided in a shootout. All of this is to say that the 1999 team wasn't really what caused the US to "become" the No. 1 team in the world. They had already been that at various points in the previous decade and had proved it with major titles. It was just a continuation of that success. As for women's volleyball, the US didn't have that kind of head start on much of the rest of the world, so it took longer to reach the mountaintop. Now that they have, I would guess that it will encourage some young girls to choose volleyball over other sports, but as has been pointed out, volleyball already has a lot of participation.
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Post by mervinswerved on Aug 17, 2021 17:22:23 GMT -5
1999 WWC was broadcast entirely on ESPN/ABC (with the attendant ESPN hype and marketing machine attached) during daytime/primetime for the entire country. That level of attention is an entirely different galaxy than one sport out of dozens competing at the most off-peak TV hours on scattered basic cable channels.
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Post by ironhammer on Aug 17, 2021 21:00:13 GMT -5
I remember back in 1999, the US women soccer team becoming the Champions at the World Cup was a breakthrough that triggered a surge of interest from girls who wanted to play soccer and a corresponding increase in funding to women soccer programs at all levels throughout the country. The result was that the US Women soccer team became the no.1 ranked team in the world, winning more World Cup champions and Olympic Golds in succeeding years.
Now that the US women has won gold in volleyball, will there be a similar effect? Will more girls decide to play volleyball, instead of say, basketball or soccer? Will this usher in an era of more gold medal performances and winning more World Championships? Or no, volleyball will always remain a more niche sport in America?
Now its certainly a pleasant and refreshing surprise to see national media outlets that normally ignores volleyball to splash out big headlines and articles on US's volleyball gold. It was nice to see it being reported in detail on CNN, New York Times and Washington Post, for example. But...is the jury still out on the impact of volleyball gold? I saw April Ross and Alix Kineman on the Today Show after their gold medals at the beach. But I don't think I saw the indoor women team getting the same national exposure. Any plans for a ticker tape parade? The Brazil women got it after winning their golds. The US women should at least deserve one.
So, what will be the impact of the gold in US women indoor volleyball, if any?
So I think the impact of the 1999 team is a little overblown. The US already had a major advantage in women's soccer over many other countries due to the combination of NCAA system and the complete neglect on the part of many of the traditional men's soccer powers. In fact, the US won the inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991 while going undefeated and having a goal differential of +20 in six matches. The US also won the gold medal in the 1996 Olympics, the first time women's soccer had been contested there. In between, they finished third in the 1995 Women's World Cup, losing a 1-0 semifinal to eventual champion Norway. The 1999 team got more attention because the WWC was held in the US and because it was decided in a shootout. All of this is to say that the 1999 team wasn't really what caused the US to "become" the No. 1 team in the world. They had already been that at various points in the previous decade and had proved it with major titles. It was just a continuation of that success. As for women's volleyball, the US didn't have that kind of head start on much of the rest of the world, so it took longer to reach the mountaintop. Now that they have, I would guess that it will encourage some young girls to choose volleyball over other sports, but as has been pointed out, volleyball already has a lot of participation. Yeah I guess you could say US was already pretty strong before 1999. But surely the shootout and media coverage of the WWC did something to further boost the sport?
As for volleyball gold, I guess I wanted to know, in addition to sport participation, the general visibility of the sport. Mainstream media in the past generally ignored volleyball. When the US women soccer won their World Cup in 2015, they got an invitation to the White House and a photo with Obama. But what about the women indoor volleyball team? They just won gold, but no invitation to the White House...yet. That shows not just the amount of attention the public has to the sport, but also how much the general public respects the sport too...
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Post by ironhammer on Aug 17, 2021 21:02:44 GMT -5
OK. I'll go ahead. The impact will be ZERO because the coverage was buried, late at night. And, once again, the stories about the athletes weren't told. Because NBC has no idea how to cover the athletes of team sports, not beyond TWO-player sports. Just compare with April and Alix. Exactly, volleyball has to compete for national attention. Even when the women won the gold, no real celebration at home, no ticker tape parade like how the women soccer team got when they won the World Cup.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2021 21:16:03 GMT -5
The time difference really didn't help. MAYBE in North or South America and prime time coverage it would have made a difference.
What I do not understand is why basketball gets so much attention, even the women's game. When I think Olympics, I never used to think basketball. The great thing about the Olympics has always been the OTHER sports. But no longer, I guess.
Don't even get me started on MEN'S basketball.
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Post by ironhammer on Aug 17, 2021 21:34:35 GMT -5
The time difference really didn't help. MAYBE in North or South America and prime time coverage it would have made a difference. What I do not understand is why basketball gets so much attention, even the women's game. When I think Olympics, I never used to think basketball. The great thing about the Olympics has always been the OTHER sports. But no longer, I guess. Don't even get me started on MEN'S basketball. Well when you get NBA superstars like Kevin Durant on the team, the media attention would naturally gravitate towards them. And on the US women side you got Sue Bird, the fact she is married to US soccer's Megan Rapinoe certainly attract media attention.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2021 21:40:38 GMT -5
But that's my point. WHY do these people need MORE attention? I hate it.
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Post by ironhammer on Aug 17, 2021 21:45:15 GMT -5
But that's my point. WHY do these people need MORE attention? I hate it. Because everyone wants to know even more about the famous players. Its a self-sustaining cycle. They are already famous, so naturally that alone attracts even more attention, and their athletic exploits is then under even more media spotlight. Conversely, for less-well-known sports, its a vicious cycle, no attention paid to them normally, only when the Olympics come will people start to become aware of them a little, but once the Olympics are over, they drop off the radar again. Winning a gold can be a breakthrough for some though. I was hoping it will have that effect on the volleyball women team. But alas, that's not the case...yet.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2021 21:48:27 GMT -5
It's laziness, if you ask me. EVERYONE doesn't want to know more. But the media wants to grab the low-hanging fruit.
Just look at women's gymnastics if you want an example of what COULD be done.
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