Inside VolleyCountry

For me womens volleyball is way better and way interesting than man volleyball.
And one of the reasons is that in Croatia we have good NT and men NT is bad.

“To be honest, I do not watch women’s volleyball, neither live nor on TV. I find it quite boring. I guess it is like a Formula 1 fan watches Formula 3 race. It is a completely different sport…” said Sivozhelez for Sport BO.

i first started watching womens volley , thats why i like it more than mens today
at the beginning i used to think that women were techniquly more skilled than men but today when i watch mens matches (italian league etc) i find out that men also can make superb digs against superb strong hits . the level ( i dont know if they are comparable) is much higher in male volley but still i like womens slow volley .lol

Well it's an english speaking forum so naturally geared towards, though not restricted to, people from english speaking countries. In America, volleyball is a girl's sport. It's a partner sport to American football in the fall. The best and the most female athletes still go to volleyball where that couldn't be farther from true for men. As a result, there is much higher interest in women's than men's volleyball, and this mentality has transposed itself to other countries as well.

LOL, no, on all accounts. The vast majority of users here are not from English speaking countries. Also, contrary to the popular belief, USA is not the entire world. Men's volleyball is considerably more popular globally, it's enough to simply look at things like prize money, attendance figures, player salaries etc.
The reason why women's volleyball is more popular here is that this started out as a women's volleyball discussion forum and men's volleyball was more of an addition.

Quoted from "GianLucaBarbei"

men's volleyball, and this mentality has transposed itself to other countries as well.

In the US women`s volleyball is more popular that men`s, but worldwide men`s is more popular than women`s. As example FIVB pays U$$ 1 million for the World League winner, while the women`s only get U$$250K. and FIVB explained the reason is because the World League attracts more interest from people and that results in more sponsors.

But even in the US, when the women`s NT play, they are basically restricted to only play in California where mostly fans are, but the men`s World League go to other states such as Chicago, OKC and so on, and they still attracts a lot of people. But if the women`s would play in these other states the attendance would be super low, and that`s why they only play in California.

Americans are just not into women`s sports, just look at the difference with NBA and WNBA.


Even in Brazil when I lived there 10 years ago, men`s volleyball was more Popular than the women`s. ( I don`t know how it is these days).

When you look at China, Japan and South Korea, even with their teams not belonging with the TOP teams in the world, they still attracts the same amount of people as the women`s do.

And just by looking at for example at Italian and Polish leagues, it is easy to see Men`s is more Popular than women`s.

Quoted from "JoanaBG"

LOL, no, on all accounts. The vast majority of users here are not from English speaking countries.

The word geared implies structure and not population. Founder's intent in this situation is far more significant than current population. I may be wrong on this, I haven't been around this forum all that long. That was my initial impression and assumption.

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Also, contrary to the popular belief, USA is not the entire world.

Not at all a relevant counter-argument, more of an ad-hominem if anything. I actually believe the world of any geopolitical significance also entails Russia, China, the collective that is Euro-NATO nations, India and Pakistan, Israel, the collective that is the the Arab League, the collective that is the ECOWAS. UNASUR and ASEAN are also beginning to have marginal importance. But yes of course, for some reason I must believe that the world is the USA.

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Men's volleyball is considerably more popular globally, it's enough to simply look at things like prize money, attendance figures, player salaries etc.

Also irrelevant because my argument was based on a contingency that specified English-speaking countries.

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In the US women`s volleyball is more popular that men`s

This is true. Physical attendance of tour events is actually pretty irrelevant because they only represent a small portion of impassioned individuals. When evaluating the success of an event such as the World Cup of Hockey, the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament, the indicator is always TV Ratings. Rio ratings were hard to decipher because ratings were blocked of by program and not event but speaking very generally and inconclusively the programs with the women did better. As far as D1 Programs, women have 317 to only 22 for the men, High School programs and Middle School programs are just as if not more disparate.

Again, for those who are eager to build a straw man. My argument was pertinent to the English speaking countries, anglophone countries we can call them. Proving that Men's Volleyball worldwide is more popular is rather off-topic.

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Quoted from "Meatballs"

I think the other way around. Guys volleyball is the one with full of mistakes, it unfortunately looks very mechanic. If you are tall and strong in guys volleyball, then you do well. In Women's volleyball, technique matters much more and often world's best players are the ones with best technique, not the ones that are naturally having an advantage like Musersky, Leon...

That's just too much a simple way of defining men's volleyball.

If anything, women make more mistakes they make versus the men do relative to the risk they take.

And having the best players doesn't mean you'll win.

Both the players you mentioned aren't going to win if the system is faulty anyway or they do not have the right players to be in that system. Just the same for women's if you have Zhu Ting,KYK or Foluke. Basically, in women's. It's much more possible to win with a dominating player. I mean, south korea would be nothing without KYK while In men's it's hardly possible for one player to dominate without sharing responsibilities with your teammates. Can't think of any maybe in South Korea clubs.

Can anyone from Italy, Poland or Russia comment whether men's volleyball is more popular at forums communicated in their own languages instead of English?

Quoted from "andrea"

Can anyone from Italy, Poland or Russia comment whether men's volleyball is more popular at forums communicated in their own languages instead of English?

Italian players instagram followers lean on men more. Poland male players are obviously more popular.Russia is a bit of curiousity but maybe because the males aren't active so they are not followed but imo are much more relevant than the women's side.

I know it's not forum but honestly social media should be taken into consideration for the popularity and it makes it seem like male players are truly more popular in Europe thanks to the sexiness and beauty skills of players like Ivan Zaytsev.

Quoted from "GianLucaBarbei"

Again, for those who are eager to build a straw man. My argument was pertinent to the English speaking countries, anglophone countries we can call them. Proving that Men's Volleyball worldwide is more popular is rather off-topic.

Except that it's not because the majority of users here are not native English speakers and this forum has users all over the world. Therefore men's volleyball being more popular worldwide is very relevant. Furthermore, volleyball is not that popular in English speaking countries other than the USA and your assertion that the idea of volleyball as a girl's sport in the USA has transposed itself onto other countries is not really true. Americans think "soccer" is a girl's sport too

Quoted from "GianLucaBarbei"

The best and the most female athletes still go to volleyball where that couldn't be farther from true for men

[Sorry, I may go a bit off topic here']A thing that imho express a lot this sentence is that in the USA male NT – unlike many others teams or singular sports – I don't think you can't see any afro-american (well, may be Patch is not strictly caucasian, but neither 'black'). I guess the tall ones generally prefer basket or others sports...

Quoted from "andrea"

Can anyone from Italy, Poland or Russia comment whether men's volleyball is more popular at forums communicated in their own languages instead of English?

In Pasini's blog 'Dal15al25 (Gazzetta) there's usually more interest in men volleyball, both for the Championship and for the NT (but almost everybody knows a bit of both).
If here it's not like that imho is because the conversation about men volleyball is often less interesting (or at least less participated), so who is mainly interested in men volleyball tends to follow the forum sporadically, especially during the italian championship.

Quoted from "GianLucaBarbei"

Well it's an english speaking forum so naturally geared towards, though not restricted to, people from english speaking countries.

I agree with the people that said this isn't the case, but there's no need to be to harsh on Gianluca when appointing his mistake: he has 5 posts, I think we can assume he doesn't follow the forum that much (yet) to know that most of us aren't English native speaker
And there's an understandable reason to explain why – among the English-speaking countries – he just spoke about USA: it's not because 'USA is the world', but because it's practically the only English-speaking countries interested in volleyball (I can come up only with Australia, beside USA).

I was a bit cranky yesterday, so I apologize.

Still, it's true that this board has never been aimed at native English speakers. From what I remember, its ancestor was founded by two Polish girls and the crowd here has always been very international.

I can tell about the situation in Serbia. Women's volleyball is now A LOT more popular than it used to be (not that hard, though, considering it was basically unheard of 15 years ago), but it still lags behind the men's game. For example, World League is shown on national TV, while Grand Prix isn't - although, it could also be a matter of logistics, as most games in GP are played in Far East, with very incovenient time zones which would make for poor TV ratings.

But in general I feel volleyball is sadly considerably less popular than before. Say, "the golden generation" of Miljković, the Grbić brothers, Vujević, Gerić and the rest, they were national heroes and household names. I don't think any of current players, male and female, have such high profile.

My opinion is in the USA Women's Volleyball is more popular because the majority of Universities/Colleges (NCAA Division I, II, III NAIA) have women's volleyball programs. were there are quite less men's programs. I like watching the Women play over Men because there are longer rallies and more strategic play, whereas in the men's it's pass-set-kill. Matches are over faster. In beach volleyball, I think Women's is more popular thanks to Misty May and Keri Walsh.

I wish women's vb was more popular here, now, not as opposed to men's, but as opposed to how popular it appears to have been, here, five years ago. I wonder if that reflects how popular it is overall, as a sport, or just how popular this forum is. Look at the archive for Women's Tournaments »: 1,500 posts in 2007, peaking at 15,000 posts in 2012, dropping to 6,000 in 2015. The trend is down.

As far as I can tell, in the English writing internet (some read that as "the world"), this is the only place to talk about volleyball teams whose native language isn't english. I hope I live to see the day where I can interact, in real time, with people in any language, because I haven't much interest in volleyball teams whose native language is english. There has to be millions of smart, funny people out there who love volleyball, talking about it in non-english.

Cranked up on morning coffee, so ... ... I like (Japanese) women's volleyball because I like the running, full on swan dive belly-flop dig. (And because they don't have a dominant player). I'm convinced there is a cap, at about 180cm and/or 65-70kg where such a move would cause more damage than it's worth. Since most Japanese women are below that cap they do more of it. They play a different game. They're like the Golden State Warriors of volleyball. Sorry for the english-speaking allusion, but Klay Thompson scores 60 points in 30 minutes of playtime while dribbling the ball only 11 times, and having it in his possession a total of 89 seconds. That's a different game. The Japanese women won the O Bronze Medal in 2012 with a couple starting players about 5 foot 2 inches, and scored zero points off the block. That's a different game.

My point is: women's volleyball has popularity because it has, sort of, its own identity. The more it tries to be like men's vb, at least in terms of dominance and power, the less identity it will have. And probably the less popularity because you can always describe it as "not quite as good as men".

Why does the popularity of a team sport rise and fall on the popularity of singling out individual dominant players?

And then there's the problem of people like me who don't know anything about volleyball but want to come here and talk about it anyway. Sorry guys and girls

The fact that this forum has less traffic compared to some years ago is not that surprising. Discussion boards as such are a dying breed, Facebook and other social media are wiping them out. Most young people are now totally unfamiliar with the concept of writing under a nickname and communicating with other nicknames. That's just not how Internet is anymore.
Edit: also, I just remembered that this board went down for a while in 2013. I think many people never returned after that.

I don't think women's sports (team sports in particular, but also other ball games such as tennis) can ever escape comparison to the men's game. They will always be the benchmark, and the more women's side differs, the more harshly it will be judged. And that's where women's volleyball has a big advantage over other sports as the difference is not essentially that big. For example, women's basketball is often unwatchable even on the highest level because it looks like a way watered down version of men's game, and no matter how good the players actually are, they sometimes come across looking like total hacks. That's not really the case with volleyball. When women's volleyball started getting more attention in Serbia back in 2005-06, a lot of people were surprised at how good it was. They had this image in their heads of girls hitting soft puffballs over the net over and over again, and were taken back at how much power and athleticism is involved there.

And those were some of my random thoughts.

I guess I already suspected the rise of FB and other quote/unquote social media as a reason for less participation here. Interesting about the 2013 downtime. I've seen that happen with other boards where folks don't all come back.

A number of interesting tidbits about the history of this board in this thread. It's not often enough that this American gets to say how grateful he is for something a couple girls in Poland did ten years ago

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[Sorry, I may go a bit off topic here']A thing that imho express a lot this sentence is that in the USA male NT – unlike many others teams or singular sports – I don't think you can't see any afro-american (well, may be Patch is not strictly caucasian, but neither 'black'). I guess the tall ones generally prefer basket or others sports...

Yes, or American football. It's hard to grasp how hard it is for guys to play volleyball in the US. I don't know any middle schools or high schools that provide the sport for guys. I even remember interviews or stories about American NT guys saying when they got into the sport they thought it was a girl's sport.

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I was a bit cranky yesterday, so I apologize.

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Still, it's true that this board has never been aimed at native English speakers. From what I remember, its ancestor was founded by two Polish girls and the crowd here has always been very international.

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I can tell about the situation in Serbia. Women's volleyball is now A LOT more popular than it used to be (not that hard, though, considering it was basically unheard of 15 years ago), but it still lags behind the men's game. For example, World League is shown on national TV, while Grand Prix isn't - although, it could also be a matter of logistics, as most games in GP are played in Far East, with very incovenient time zones which would make for poor TV ratings.

But in general I feel volleyball is sadly considerably less popular than before. Say, "the golden generation" of Miljković, the Grbić brothers, Vujević, Gerić and the rest, they were national heroes and household names. I don't think any of current players, male and female, have such high profile.
Still, it's true that this board has never been aimed at native English speakers. From what I remember, its ancestor was founded by two Polish girls and the crowd here has always been very international.

For some reason I can't get the quote to be continuous...but yes, I was probably wrong about the origins.

Maybe having Boskovic will help reignite the passion for volleyball.

@sitenoise There is another one but that one is most certainly geared for Americans. I lost interest there because the Olympic GDT was nothing but a Jenny Lang Ping worship ceremony. I'm a big Team China fan and I think JLP is obviously a capable coach, a good coach, but she's not what people made her out to be there.

I don't think social media is replacing forums though. The difficult thing about social media is that it's hard to find people discussing the topics you most wish to discuss there, or I'm just really bad at social media. For instance, if I post on social media "XYZ volleyball player just did ABC, he/she is so bad he/she should be off the team", I will get enough likes but no pertinent replies because my friends do not care about volleyball and those who do care can't find my post.

Quoted from "GianLucaBarbei"

@sitenoise There is another one but that one is most certainly geared for Americans. I lost interest there because the Olympic GDT was nothing but a Jenny Lang Ping worship ceremony. I'm a big Team China fan and I think JLP is obviously a capable coach, a good coach, but she's not what people made her out to be there.

I don't think social media is replacing forums though. The difficult thing about social media is that it's hard to find people discussing the topics you most wish to discuss there, or I'm just really bad at social media. For instance, if I post on social media "XYZ volleyball player just did ABC, he/she is so bad he/she should be off the team", I will get enough likes but no pertinent replies because my friends do not care about volleyball and those who do care can't find my post.

You mean Volleytalk, yes? That is very much geared towards Americans though and there is not much talk about anything apart from NCAA and some international competitions. A lot of the posters there know a lot about volleyball and American players but they don't follow Asian or European volleyball at all.

There are specific pages and groups on sites like Facebook where people discuss volleyball that you can join though and this is where a lot of potential users of this site probably post. I'm not on any myself but some users here are. I don't know how many use English as the main language

I joined on Nov.2015, I think even back there (not too long ago at all ) this forum was a bit busier. This past season was really slow even in the Italian and Turkish women`s league page. Unfortunately this forum is pretty dead mostly of the time.

When checking past posts, I`ve noticed also there were more users in the past( some of them very knowledgeable and very interesting, would be nice if they were still around),

Plus, there`s a few regular users, that unfortunately are very clueless about volleyball and they don`t even watch any games ( or least not as they say), but they will still give their PERSONAL opinions, and these opinions are often very "no sense" and very childish, they think they know it all, they do not respect other`s opinions,and this can scary away some users, at the end of the day why would you be logging in to read some garbage? you definitely get tired after a while and give up on the forum.