Factors for a competitive NT

  • I think first and the most important factor not only for volleyball but for all sports and art is economic factor. If the economic state of people is not good, they won't think about volleyball or their NT ;) Also we must take into consideration some local factors.



    I am sorry, but I am not totally sure about that. Economy can play a huge role, but it does not determine the fate of a sport. Economic factors can speed up or delay the development of some sports, specially for those sports with highest technical requirements. For example, look at Dominican Rep. they have a good volleyball team and DR is one of the greaters "suppliers" of baseball players to the Baseball Leagues here in the USA, and the country is not even closer to be a rich country.


    Or take for example the ex-former Soviet Republics, specially the ones in Central Asia, they are not among the wealthiest countries in the world, but they are developing good volleyball teams, boxers, and wrestlers.


    Only agree with your last comment, there were not big differences among them, but the countries were economically collapsed.

  • setting a volleyball net in a suburban street and playing volley stopping every time a car is passing by.


    me and my friends have already done this :lol: and got into a lot of trouble

  • me and my friends have already done this :lol: and got into a lot of trouble

    :call: But, Do not you agree that things like this are the reason why volley and futebol are so popular in BRA?

  • :call: But, Do not you agree that things like this are the reason why volley and futebol are so popular in BRA?

    i agree with you on this...it´s quite common to see it in brazil

  • I think hosting a big volley tournament like European, World Championships or GP might influence to have a competitive team and count as a factor if you can make up right conditions. Because in this way you can get media and people's attention to volleyball and make it more popular on sport ratings in country. And this can be the first level to build up a competitive team and volleyball tradition for future. Because it's impossible to grow up a good volleyball generation if you dont have kids, boys, girls and young people who love playing and want to be part of it. Of course It's effective on any sport not just volleyball.


    For example here in Turkey volleyball wasnt a popular sport and seen as a time spender or hobby which people play usually in pleasure ground or parks so only few people were interested in volley and counted it as a professional sport until early 2000's. And then we hosted ECH in 2003 so during ECH our female team was very succesfull and paid great attention so became very popular for a while. Volleyball's popularity is still not enough comparing football and basketball in Turkey but we have very competitive teams in female volleyball since then. Because parents who ve seen the games during ECH 2003 began to inspire their girls playing volley and send them to the volley schools and youth teams of the clubs. And companies started to support and invest on volleyball clubs because ratings got higher. Therefore we could have built many strong female NT and club teams on any level (Juniors, Youths and Seniors) and still improving our volleyball tradition to get better and better. This is the short story how our volleyball became a shining light. So now our federation hopes that it will happen the same thing for men in ECH 2009. Because male volleyball's ratings are very weak here and boys who are pyhsically fit for volleyball choice basketball or football instead of. So possible successfull results which Turkish Men NT will get in ECH 2009 may change many things and lead a great future for Men's Volleyball just like Women's.

  • I think that in female volleyball there is much less competition than in other sports. In soccer we have many competitive european, south american and even african teams. Women volleyball has just some NTs that reached high levels.


    Soviet Union (and after Russia) is on high levels from the 50s, as well as Japan and USA. South Korea emerged in the 70s, while China and Cuba in the late 70s, early 80s. Peru became competitive in the 80s. Brazil in the 90s, while Italy in the early 00s. Turkey emerged in 2003, while Serbia in 2006.
    South Korea and Peru declined very much and Japan has become weaker too. Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Serbia replaced them.


    So, Russia, China, Cuba, Brazil, Italy, USA, Turkey, Serbia, Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Japan reached high levels and are trying to stay on them. So 12 teams.
    South Korea and Peru reached high levels but declined and are not top teams anymore.


    I think in the 80s and 90s there were less competitivness than now with the 4 powers and then USA, Japan, South Korea, Peru and Germany.


    Maybe countries with huge population, once they reached high levels are more likely to replace players.


    countries by population
    1.China; 2.India; 3.United States; 4.Indonesia; 5.Brazil; 6.Pakistan; 7.Bangladesh; 8.Nigeria; 9.Russia; 10.Japan; 11.Mexico; 12.Philippines; 13.Vietnam; 14.Germany; 15.Ethiopia; 16.Egypt; 17.Iran; 18.Turkey; 19.DR Congo; 20.France; 21.Thailand; 22.UK; 23.Italy; 24.Myanmar; 25.South Africa; 26.South Korea; 27.Ukraine; 28.Spain; 29.Colombia; 30.Tanzania; 34.Poland; 41.Peru; 61.Netherlands; 75.Cuba; 86.Serbia; 91.Azerbaijan


    China, USA, Brazil and Russia have no problem finding replacement and in fact they are top teams for more than 30 years. Germany, Turkey and Italy reached high levels and it seams they have no replacement problems. Japan is struggling, but it is a dangerous team for more than 30 years.
    On the other hand Peru and Azerbaijan didn't find replacement having a smaller population. Netherlands is struggling to find talented young players, playing with the same starting six for years.
    Cuba is the exception, because it has a small population, but is competitive (in fact a top team) for more than 30 years.

  • | think that popularity also comes with achievements. Not the main factor, but I think it helps...
    For example, when Gustavo Kuerten (tennis player) started winning tournaments, many children started playing tennis because Kuerten was their new idol. It is probably happening now with athletism (Usein Bolt) and will happen with other sports too.


    And also the rule is simple: if the team wins, they get air time, otherwise, most likely they won't get any air time at all.


    I already heard that maybe some USA channels start broadcasting volleyball matches. Not certain, but they showed interest after USA got the silver medal in Beijing. The only problem is, they win silver at OG and lose almost everything else :lol: :lol: :lol: But no matter what I support this team and would wake up in the middle of the night to watch them, no doubts :heart: !

  • What matters is also the physical factor. Tall and strong players are usually more successfull. Cuba has a very low population comparing to China, but it remained on high levels for more than 30 years. Cuba didn't have problems to replace its players, because Cuban women are generally strong, not necessarly tall, but very strong and with high elevation when jumping. I think this is a characteristic of Carreebean women. So I'm still waiting for Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Jamaica to reach higher levels. Also South American countries such as Colombia and Venezuela have women with similiar characteristics. Colombia has also a big population.


    Asian women are generally smaller and not that strong physically. China with its enourmous population didn't have a lot of problems finding tall players, but still their are physically not that strong. This is a disadvantage for all those countries with big population such as Thailand, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia. Even Japan and South Korea with their big population and volley popularity are struggling.


    In Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries religion plays a very big role. So we don't even see those teams playing unfortunately. Arab and other Middle Eastern women are generally smaller too and not that strong I guess. Iran has a big population.


    African women could be similiar to Cubans. At least I see them as strong and with good athletic possibilities.


    Women volleyball has to develop!!! Brazil and Cuba should be the role models for all South American countries. China and Japan for Asian countries.


    In Europe the competition is much more balanced. In Asia it is a competition between China and Japan, in South America Brazil is sure to win.

  • Isn't it incredible that such big and rich / or not that poor countries like France, Great Britain, Ukraine, Spain, Sweden, India, Indonesia, Iran, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt aren't able to have a strong team in women volley.




    It's incredible also that for many years


    -Euro volley is a matter of the same 6 teams all over again (Italy, Russia, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey and more recently Serbia)


    -Asia is dominated by those teams in that order 1.China, 2.Japan, 3.Korea or Thailand


    -South America is in the hands of Brazil. And Peru is trying a comeback.


    -North America sees the competition between Cuba and Usa with the Dominican Republic as third competitor


    -The top 5 teams are almost always Brazil, China, Russia, Cuba, Usa with sporadic and periodical insurgence of other teams (Japan in the 70s, Peru in the 80s and Italy now)




    We've seen at men WCH that the competition is much more balanced with more competitive African, Asian and South American teams and ranking much more changing in time with many surprises (France, Spain, Czech, Finland, Iran etc)


    Also in soccer I think there is much more balance. I don't know about other sports, but women volley seems to me too gerarchical from the point of view of the countries.

  • For a country which has ave height of 5 feet for women, it is hard to promote volleyball. They tend to choose sports that does not require height. And recruitment is also hard because not all tall players are gifted or interested at least to try volleyball.


    Given that you have your squad and your players were committed to play for the national team, the government should support them to play international.


    Speed and power can be develop but still this needs budget to send them to training. Recruits are from different part of the country, like here in the Philippines recruits may come from not so well off families. Good thing universities has their own ways to promote the sports and allow those players to get into college and get training.


    I think the 3 main factors are
    Budget (financial support which may come from government or any ngo's)
    Physique
    Popularity of the sports :wavy:

  • For a country which has ave height of 5 feet for women, it is hard to promote volleyball. They tend to choose sports that does not require height. And recruitment is also hard because not all tall players are gifted or interested at least to try volleyball.


    Given that you have your squad and your players were committed to play for the national team, the government should support them to play international.


    Speed and power can be develop but still this needs budget to send them to training. Recruits are from different part of the country, like here in the Philippines recruits may come from not so well off families. Good thing universities has their own ways to promote the sports and allow those players to get into college and get training.


    I think the 3 main factors are
    Budget (financial support which may come from government or any ngo's)
    Physique
    Popularity of the sports :dance6:

  • I think the 3 main factors are
    Budget (financial support which may come from government or any ngo's)
    Physique
    Popularity of the sports :dance6:


    This all makes sense, but for me popularity is the real potential dealbreaker. Here in Great Britain, we have money and some with the physique... Plenty of 6ft women in rowing, cycling and other "tall" sports. The problem is that volleyball is the 257th most popular sport here :wall: most people think it's some kind of "basketball in bikinis on sand type thing". Here we like football, cricket, rugby. Formula 1, watersports, etc. This unfortunate lack of interest is clearly the missing link.

  • This all makes sense, but for me popularity is the real potential dealbreaker. Here in Great Britain, we have money and some with the physique... Plenty of 6ft women in rowing, cycling and other "tall" sports. The problem is that volleyball is the 257th most popular sport here :wall: most people think it's some kind of "basketball in bikinis on sand type thing". Here we like football, cricket, rugby. Formula 1, watersports, etc. This unfortunate lack of interest is clearly the missing link.


    That's true, but in the USA, where volleyball is not popular, there are many good players. It can even be said that now the USA are the major producer of talented players, even more than Brazil. Maybe is their high-school and college system that helps.

  • That's true, but in the USA, where volleyball is not popular, there are many good players. It can even be said that now the USA are the major producer of talented players, even more than Brazil. Maybe is their high-school and college system that helps.

    I guess "popular" should be judiciously used. Popular in terms of what? Because when you cite the U.S. as an example, you can always say that it is popular because a lot of people are aware of the sport, you can say that there are some States where volleyball really has a huge following like Hawaii and California, and you can also say that there is an organized structure for NCAA and Highschool volleyball. It's just that it is being overshadowed by "Big" sports such as Football, Basketball, and Baseball which have organized amateur and professional organizations. So in that sense volleyball is not really unpopular.


    I guess it is more of how people perceive and appreciate the sport which makes them really exert effort to play the game well. I guess that is the first start. And I guess it should be our advocacy as volleyball enthusiasts to try to increase the awareness of the sport in our respective countries :)