Who inspired you to start playing volleyball?

    We all love volleyball. It is a big passion for most users here. And some users including me also regularly play volleyball. After reading a post from Leonardo.D I was wondering what inspired other forum users to follow volleyball or start playing it.


    I want to start sharing my experience. Although most Turkish supporters started to watch volleyball during 2003 European championship that Turkey received the silver medal, the first volleyball game I ever watched was RUS-CHN 2004 Olympic games final. I was waiting to watch my favourite TV show while my cousin watches Olympic final. I was indeed shocked by the way Karpol yelled at his players. But the game seemed to be very interesting with so many rallies and the epic Chinese comeback against Russians drew my attention. I remember I was amazed by Feng kun. She looked so charismatic and smart. And I watched some of the games of our team at 2005 ECh. I was impressed Neslihan and Shabovta from Azeri team. In same year I started to play volleyball in our highschool team. That's why I wanted to learn more about the game, started to watch all videos of Cuban team. I was in love with their jump serves 😍 I remember I asked my trainer to teach me how to make jump serves. And from 2006 WCh I started to watch all the big events regularly, even the junior and youth championships.


    It would be nice to hear your stories! What was the first volleyball game you watched? What was the match or player that made you love this sport, or inspire to play?

    Originally, it was her:

    Mila-Superstar.png


    I was in love with this series as a kid and spent a lot of time trying to play what I considered back then as "volleyball" with friends or even alone against a wall :rolll: When TV didn't show it anymore and I became older I lost interest in volleyball a bit, and then I remember watching some parts of matches of OG 2000 on TV brought back my passion, and from that time I tried to catch every bit of volleyball on German TV, which was very little, and recorded it on video tape and watched it over and over again. Nowadays with endless amount of matches available online this is pretty hard to imagine but hey, I'm officially old ;(

    I'm not that old so I don't watch volleyball that long.

    In my youth I've watched some matches of the Dutch first division for women, because there was a team in my neighborhood in it. That was the first time I came in contact with volleyball and the rallies in the game impressed, so I think that's the big reason I prefer women's volleyball.

    In 2013 I watched some replays of the Olympic Games of 2012. The Brazil squad amazed me, especially Thaisa. That power and quick attacks, just wow!:obey: I think I watched the quarter final Brazil-Russia 10 times, it was such in exiting match:cheesy:


    Since the WCH in 2014 I started to follow the Dutch NT. At that time they were nothing special, but when Guidetti came, everything changed. Without him they wouldn't be were they are now. I know he is weird sometimes and the way he left still hurts a little, but he is my favorite coach.


    In 2015 I watched the semi final and the final of ECH live. There I watched IMHO the best setters there are at the moment, namely Ognjenovic and Naz. They are creative and are able to play a fast game. The connection between the setter and middle blocker impresses me, especially the slide attack. That's the reason de Kruijf is my favorite middle blocker:win:


    I never played volleyball as a sport, only on recreational level. But watching volleyball is my favorite hobby. I'm so happy WCH 2022 is in the Netherlands, so I want to see the final live. Also my dream is to watch the olympic final live sometime.

    Nice idea for a thread serdar!


    I didn’t really see volleyball on TV until the Beijing Olympics so that’s when I became a fan. Even though I now know they weren’t at their best in this event I loved the Serbian girls for some reason, especially Maja, and have been a fan ever since. Of course it wasn’t just them who I watched and I remember being so impressed with the Brazilian team and also falling in love with Skowronska, even though Poland had a competition to forget.


    Then I was so sad because I thought I wouldn’t be able to watch volleyball until the next Olympics. :lol: I didn’t know about internet streaming yet (was it already a thing?) but luckily for me, we started to get one Italian volleyball match per week on TV and I loved the Pesaro team with Kasia, Jaque, Guiggi and many other cool players. Them winning the Scudetto in 2009 was a pretty iconic moment for me.


    So yeah, it all just progressed from there.

    I don't play volleyball, but ... what inspired me to start watching and enjoying was ... surprise surprise ... Japan :)


    I'm not much of a sports enthusiast, but I love camaraderie and teamwork. In all sports I've ever indulged I've always liked defense more than offense; underdogs more than dominators; how well you lose more than how well you win. David more than Goliath.


    I'm a Bay Area dude. Not much of a basketball fan but the 14/15 Golden State Warriors season was pretty cool. Joyful and fast. The 15/16 season saw the Warriors kicking people in the balls and throwing their mouthpieces. Whiny little bitches. Babies. I haven't watched them since.


    Bay Area dude also has a lot of Chinese friends. "Hey! Lets watch Rio Olympic Volleyball. China has this amazo-player". Needless to say the tournament was an emotional arc for my friends. I was very very happy for them. They gave more credit to Lang Ping than any of the players, and pointed out how she'd often call a timeout and just let the players talk among themselves. Contrast that to other coaches.


    On whim, I decided to watch Japan v Russia replay. I had to watch it by myself because, ya know. I hid myself away in my bedroom and watched it on my iPad with no commentary and an incorrect zoom setting that hid the score bug. I thought Japan won the match. I'm sure they showed the score at the end of each set but because I didn't care who won or lost I guess I wasn't paying attention. I watched a few more matches, buried myself in youtube, and haven't looked back. I've yet to see a Japanese player (or coach) express frustration or anger at another player, let alone themselves. Sure, there's the Blink Moment of "Damnit!" but if it lasts more than a heartbeat, it's acting.


    Say what you will. That's almost entirely what this is about for me. Joyful Entertainment. Smiling. Discipline & Defense. Good losers :rolll: If I want drama or unhappy faces I'll go to the cinema. Beyond that ... is the dance. Small bodies move in a more appealing way to me than large bodies. The 162cm girl in my avatar is like Baryshnikov to me. Saori Sakoda, Martha Graham.


    And I sort of like the feeling of a broken heart. As long as it goes away after a few minutes.

    Nice idea, so here's my experience!


    The first match I saw was Brazil-Italy, the men's final of the olympic games in Athens 2004. I was very young, I didn't understand anything about the rules or the players but that game entertained me a lot.


    Then in 2006, coming back from school, I switched on the TV and there was a replay of Brazil-Russia, female final of the WCH 2006. I totally fell in love with Jaqueline, she was so beautiful :love: it still hurts me the fact that Russia won that match..


    I startedmiei my first course of volley and in 2007 I started following Italy NT, who had a fantastic strike of 21 victories in a row and brought home the gold at the ECH and at the World Cup. Aguero, Lo Bianco, Piccinini, Cardullo, Del Core: my idols :cheesy:


    From then on, I never skipped a match badically. And of course, I had to recover my ignorance about the past, so I watched all the existing videos from the 90s on.

    For me, i think it was my mother who inspired me to play volleyball as a kid. She used to join a small tournament in our village when she was younger. Got my first exposure to international volleyball watching montreux volleymasters and world grand prix back in '98. I was impressed by players like Piccinini, Leferink (She had a very mean serve!), Rinieri, Yumilka Ruiz, but it was Brazil that captivated me the most. Virna Dias and Leila Barros were at their peak and they were very strong. A year later, at the Rus vs Bra WGP '99 finals match, Sokolova caught my attention with her ultra explosive spikes and it was her that made me a fan of Russia. My support for the team went even bigger when Gamova burst into the scene. I don't play a lot but I think I learned a few things just watching the game. For example, I watch Goncharova too much that I even got to incorporate her weird arm swing. Lol.

    I am glad to know that a thread like this was created! Good initiative serdar! :thumbup:


    I am not so old, I hope :D But the first vball matches I watched was WCH 1998. I watched there Ana Moser and eventhough I was a little kid, I was amazed by the way she played. Then I knew she was in the end of her career. I still remembered I asked my parents why she didnt go to Sydney.


    I forgot vball for a while but then the real match that inspired me to start following vball in big tournments was the semifinal between Brazil and Russia in Athens 2004 (sorry for brazilian friends to remember this match). One of the best matches I have watched, so many emotions, iconic Karpol in the bench, outstanding performance by Mari (37 points!) and a big BIG dosis of drama. Two different styles of playing. For me, Athens 2004 was such a pleasure because many teams were in their top and one could watch so many different style of playing (Japan & Korea with thei high speed, super defense, Russia with their two towers (Gamova & Sokolova) and sets to the ceiling (thanks Sheshenina8o), a renewed Cuba with the old 4-2 system and their rocket bomb services (Zoila Barros :*), Brazil with the magic of Venturini, China with those amazing slide attacks and double slides without block (Kun Feng was just a goddess:love:), Italy, like WCH champions, with Togut, Lo Bianco and Cardullo, USA was not in their best shape, but Logan, Scott Arruda and Ah Mow Santos were so nice to watch! I remember they were stunned by the dominicans and their tough loss against Brazil in QFs (after such a dramatic 4th set win, they totally collapsed in the tie-break), etc etc etc

    The final was just epic. For me, it is still the best final in the last 4 Olympics.

    I got in love not only with women vball, also men. I remember so well the match between Brazil and Italy in the preliminary round. The tie-break ended 31-29 or something like this :obey:

    Since then, I started to play vball at school, or trying to train. Then I noticed I was way better a good fan than player :D

    Because of time zone, I have had to wake up so many times at 2, 3, 4 am in order to watch so many tournments (thanks FIVB and Japan!). So when Rio Olympics arrived, I was so damn happy! Finally watching matches without setting the alarm so early! Justice! :woohoo:

    It was funny to read that the europeans were complaining. It was something that the fans from the western hemisphere have been suffering since always :S

    i remember Ana Moser too! But she was already in a decline when I got to watch her and her role was mostly a serve substitute. But man, she has a strong serve! :)

    I remember coming home from school and I just turned on TV as my parents were not yet home, I saw there was a volleyball match on Kanal D, Eczacibasi vs Uralochka. I didn’t know it was Uralochka at the time of course. I remember there was a tall girl, which was Gamova as I learned later, crying, their old coach was yelling to his players, Karpol, I thought some players were keeping napkins in their hands because they were crying. It was plaster on their hands and I thought it was napkin. Lol. This must be 2001 or 2002. And I watched ECH 2003 and it made me fall in love with volleyball. Neslihan and Aysun. Glinka, Grun. Gamova. I started playing volleyball, we didn’t have a team in the school but silver medal that Turkey got in ECH 2003 made it so popular so every school started to form teams for local championships. I went to a summer camp that summer and I was picked out by a club.


    I remember I waited for matches on TRT 3. It was on schedule but it was also the channel of TBMM so those scheduled matches were never shown. Luckily, we had Rai sport. I started to watch Rai Sport and Italian League. Those were good times.

    It was Haikyuu. That's an anime and one of my favorite ones. I saw that with a friend a half year ago.


    Since that Volleyball is a drug for us. We started to train everyday. We opened up a Volleyball-School Team and joined a Volleyball Club. The Problem is that the Club trains only one time a week (volleyball is not very popular in Germany).


    So we started to look Videos from Couch Donny (YouTube: "Elevate yourself") and practiced lots of more. At the moment we're improving our Jump Serves and next week we will Join another Volleyball Club which is more serious and which is training 3 Times a week. For Volleyball i also stopped to swim and Taekwondo in a Club.


    That's my story and Hopefully it not gonna and yet :)


    🏐🏐🏐