There is a thread on Volleytalk (link is http://volleytalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=menvb&action=display&thread=26690) discussing an article that was posted in the most recent USA Volleyball magazine about whether or not the sport is dying. This is not the first time I've thought about the sport and its lack of promotion in certain areas, so I figured I'd write a quick blog on it.
Going outside the box and switching gears a bit from the thread's tone:
I brought up the point on THE NET LIVE's last show that the sport here seems to struggle to be appealing to younger kids (5-8 would be the age I'm referring to, although I'd even add a year or two on the top end). It is a painfully fundamentally demanding sport. Unlike soccer, where a kid can completely whiff kicking the ball, yet play continues as the other 20 children follow him/her around the field, volleyball has too many stops when serves are missed, people can't pass, etc.
Basketball was my favorite sport growing up. I remember being 5, running downstairs for christmas, and seeing the plastic 4-foot basketball hoop that I could play with. I spent countless hours on it. Fast forward a few years where I had the Chicago Bulls wooden backboard with an actual metal rim that could hang about 5 1/2 feet above ground on the back of my bedroom door. Even though I was too small to be able to make a basket on a regulation hoop, I was still able to play a version of the sport at a level that kept it somewhat interesting.
Even with Baseball, you have t-ball to give children the ability to hit that would never be able to hit a ball that was pitched to them.
What do we have with volleyball?
Even within the sport, at the club level we realize that once a player finds a club that they're happy with, the odds of them leaving are slim (and yes, I realize that the legality behind not being able to recruit a player from one club to another comes into play). Still, if a child falls in love at the age of 5 with soccer, baseball, basketball, or any other sport, what are the odds they'll be pulled away by volleyball at 10-13? Our sport is coming into play much later than other sports, and other than cases where older siblings/parents play it, their exposure to it compared to the rest is minimal.
How do we counter this?
If I was in charge, I'd be looking for a way to make the sport adaptable for younger kids. I would create a sport court that could be broken down which had smaller dimensions for a court. A net system that was MUCH shorter. A ball that stayed in the air a bit longer (lighter balls are nice, but it doesn't change the time that children need to be able to react to the ball - perhaps something in between a volley lite and a beach ball?)
I have no doubt that people with a little money, a lot of time, and some creativity can find a way to make the sport more child-friendly without sacrificing the basic principles of the game, as well as the overall fundamentals used. If you had a smaller court, a net low enough where children could put it over on a regular basis, and a ball that moved a bit slower in order to make it easier to keep it in play, volleys would be longer and the appeal to play it would increase.
Just my thoughts on the topic.
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