Stereotypes

Saying volleyball is a easy and none athletic sport is the most hurtful stereotype a volleyball player can hear. Some might say football is a real sport, and it takes more athletic skills than volleyball. Others might say basketball is the only sport that should be considered difficult that takes skill to accomplish the sport. Now in my opinion, I personally don't understand how these people can compare these three sports together. They are all COMPLETELY different.

I have played basketball, volleyball and softball my entire life. Now I know football and I understand the game, but have never participated in the sport, due to the fact of me being a girl. Volleyball, basketball and football are three sports that do not have much in common. Yeah, football and basketball are huge contact sports and volleyball isn't so, but volleyball takes a lot of reaction time, and skill on being able to swing, pass and set. Boys don't have an understanding of how much talent volleyball really takes. There are certain skills you have to be able to accomplish and master before stepping on the court. Passing a volleyball does not look hard at al; until you actually try it.  You can teach people how to pass all you want, but it really comes down to how athletic and easy that player picks it up. Setting is like passing. It is all about the kind of hands a girl/boy has. Now hitting is probably the easiest to do. The big secret to hitting is being tall and a fast arm swing. That is the key to success at that particular position.

Football and basketball are sports that are dominate in men playing them, so they are prone to be more popular and seem better than any other sport. Football is a sport that you either have to be big and strong or blazing fast. Basketball has a variety of talents to be able to succeed at that sport.

Yes sweating is a factor in any type of sport you participate in. So when someone says, "oh you don't even sweat in volleyball, how could you consider that hard?" This comment blows my mind, because volleyball is a game where there is constant movement on the court and talking. Have you ever tried talking while running up and down the court in basketball or down the field in football? Well you could imagine it is hard and is extremely tiring. There have been studies on ESPN that have proved the reaction time from the moment the hitter hits the ball to the time the defender digs the ball. The study said the reaction time was less than .8 seconds. Now if you are one of those people that says volleyball doesn't take talent than ask yourself if you could dig that ball.

Eating The Right Foods

When playing a sport it is extremely important to eat and consume the right foods. Eating healthy will help you gain the energy you need. Especially when you have a long day of working out, you really want to make sure you are eating foods that aren't going to make your body feel weak but strong instead. Junk food like chips, brownies, cookies, etc are not good for the body in a long day of playing a sport.

Protein is very good to consume throughout the time you are competing. Having healthy snacks at the house like fruit, vegetables and yogurt are going to help keep you from eating things like chips, cheetos and candy before dinner. Although eating healthy is more expensive than eating junk food, you have to look at the out come of eating healthier. You will look better and be better. You will perform better at the sport and thrive to be the best of the best. Eating healthy does not have a bad outcome so why doesn't people that want to succeed and be the best they can be at a sport not eat as healthy as they can? I honestly couldn't answer that. There could be multiple factors, but the easiest answer would be they have the sweet tooth for the junk food and the healthy food does not seem yummy to them at the time they are buying the items.

Smell of Volleyball

You would be amazed on how sickening and nauseating the smell of knee pads, volleyball shoes, and ankle braces are. Volleyball smell hands down beats the smell of football.

Knee pads consist of sweat that stays in the pad, it has no where to go so it just sits there and doesn't move. There is no air flow to push the smell out. Volleyball players don't have time to wash their equipment everyday after practice or a game. If you wash them, they have to sit outside and not dried in the dryer. A lot of times volleyball players put their knee pads, shoes, and ankle braces in their bag after practice or a game and then the next day when it is time to practice again, they take their equipment out of their bag and their knee pads are still wet from the day before. Believe it or not, but that wetness is the sweat from the day before. This builds up and leaves a repulsive scent, that is indescribable. This happens over and over again, leaving the smell to go nowhere other than the inside of the bag. Before you know it your bag will start to smell horrendous, and you won't be able to get rid of it.

Volleyball knee pads aren't something that can just be washed in the washing machine and smell brand new again. No matter what you try the smell will not go away. The sweat gets soaked in the fabric of the knee pad and doesn't go away. Some athletes try soaking them in fabric softener and ultra clean before they put them in the washing machine. This works if you wash them every week, but if you are a normal volleyball player this does not work. From all the sweat that is soaked in the knee pad a fabric softener or ultra clean is not going to do the job. A volleyball athlete is going to have to deal with the fact that their knee pads, shoes, ankle braces and bags are going to stink horrendously bad.

Club Volleyball Vs. High School Volleyball

There are many differences between club volleyball and high school volleyball. Club season can last up to eight months and as short as five months. High school volleyball only last up to three months. Both club and high school have one goal, and that is to get to state and win it and for club to make it to nationals and succeed at nationals. In high school to get to state all depends on how well they do in the beginning of the year. If the high school volleyball team has a winning start of the season they will have a better regional seeding to have their ride to state. Now club volleyball is all about the tournaments the team is in and how well they do. If they are in more qualifiers: tournaments with teams all over America to receive a bid to nationals. Teams can either receive a bid from a qualifier tournament or the state that team is from regionals. If they place first or second in either of those tournaments they will receive a bid to nationals. This is extremely exciting! It is an award of how hard you have worked.

High school state volleyball is short. It last for three days. Each class plays on a different day. There is 5a, 4a, 3a, 2a, and 1a. Volleyball, basketball and softball are the only sports in high school that have 5a. There is a total of three days for each class that the state tournament lasts. If the team makes it all the way to the championship they would have played a total of three matches, one match a day. This is a big thing to be apart of in high school. Going to state is the ultimate goal for high school athletes. State volleyball is hosted in the U.S. Cellular Center downtown Cedar Rapids. There are two courts set up right next to each other with a curtain between them, so the game balls won't be interrupting the courts. Once you lose you are done with that high school volleyball season. The girls cry and the seniors realize that they are done with high school volleyball and on to the next step in their lives.

Club nationals is a lot different than high school state volleyball. State volleyball is right after regional. Nationals are hosted in June and last about three weeks. There are multiple different age groups ranging from eleven year olds to eighteen year olds. Then on top of that there are different divisions in the age groups. There are five different divisions. Patriot which is the lowest, then there is USA, American, National, and Open. Open is the best of the best. Usually there are only 26 teams that are allowed to be in the open division. This is where most of the college coaches come to scout players. National division still has top teams, because the teams that didn't make open but at a national qualifier ended up in the top 5, but couldn't pull it through to receive a bid got pushed down to the national division. If you make the national division instead of open you still should be ready to compete, because there are tough teams and triple the amount of teams than in open. Winning or even placing in the top 15 at nationals is outstanding and will get your club name out there.

Being a Good Teammate

Every team has teammates they absolutely love or they have no interest in being around them. It is hard having teammates that don't get along. That is something you never want when you are searching for a team to play with. You want to make sure that the girls are people you see yourself hanging with and being friends with forever. When I think of a good teammate, I think of someone that will help me get better, or someone that is going to be in my life and friends with for as long as I live.

Teammates are not just people you say you play a sport with. They should be known as one of your best friends. A good teammate doesn't cheat their way out of things. For example, if you are lifting with another teammate you don't want to skip any lifts or reps. It is kind of like not cheating in school. That doesn't help you or your partner. There are a lot of aspects in being a good teammate. Giving positive and not negative feed back is good. Sometimes the other player likes when another teammate says something like, "hey you should get up faster on that block" or "you almost had it, just more step and you could have gotten it up." A lot of times players like hearing something from another teammate instead of getting yelled at by their coach. Little things like that could help your teammate go a long way. Doing something so little as giving tips doesn't just help them, but puts you in a great spot called a leader. Colleges look for this and want this on their team. That also leads back to my recent blog about getting recruited.

No matter what your job is on the court or field, you have a huge aspect to the team. If you are a bench player that is just as big of a role as the quarter back or point guard or the libero in volleyball. Cheering on the bench could be the determination of what will be the outcome of the game. Maybe the team isn't playing very good and needed a boost, but the bench wasn't cheering loud enough then they lose. Now what if the bench was loud and did everything they could to get the team fired up? Most likely the outcome would have been different. A good teammate cheers on the team no matter what position they are in. They should want the best for all of their team(family).

Not Treating Injurys

Treating injury's are extremely important in succeeding in a sport. If you never treat an injury, you aren't ever going to get better. The injury is just going to be worse the longer you play with it, instead of treating it so it could be stronger. You see tons of NFL and NBA players not treating their injury's proper, due to them wanting to play and not sitting out. This is because they earn their living by playing this sport, so if they sit out due to an injury it could keep them from ever coming back and playing. There are reams of athletes that do this. They should not be doing this, and they should have to pay a cost for doing this.

Now the National Football Association has cracked down on the concussion injury. A collection of players have suffered from this injury and it has become an enormous problem. There are myths saying, "ex NFL players are messed up in the head." This is said, because of the amount of concussions there were. Players never treated these, or told their coaches they had one, because they didn't want to sit out and risk never playing again. They did this, again, to not sit out from the sport they love. A concussion can last as long as two weeks to two months. It all depends on how bad the injury is. Especially this injury is scary and not okay to not treat it. Now the NFL has strict rules on this injury, because of the history with it and how bad it has effected people.

Sprain ankles is another huge injury that isn't treated how it should be. In a lot of cases, sprained ankles are worse than broken ankles. Broken ankles are treated with being placed in a boot and not doing any activity on it for a certain amount of weeks. Sprain ankles turn blue and purple and have therapy done to it right away. It is hard for it to heal, because you can't really tell when you are ready to come back. Usually they say you are ready when it doesn't hurt to run on it. The swelling could take months to go down. Most of the times the swelling never goes away. It will always be a little big even after two years after you sprained it.

Recruitment

Recruitment is a stressful and drawn out event. It could last for three months to four years. It’s a never ending thing. There are multiple aspects in getting recruited.

It all starts with filling out question-airs on the college’s website. Usually this begins at the start of freshman year in high school. Colleges will receive thousands of question applications. Most colleges will pick the ones that they already have an interest in. Once the athlete contacts the school, the college is going to know that the player has an interest and then that makes them have an interest in the player. As a freshman the college coaches can't contact the player but the player can contact by email, phone, or text. If the coach doesn't respond then the player has to try another time. The coach can't call the player back.

Once club season starts, you should email the volleyball coach and let them know what club you are playing on, the back round of the club, and the schedule for the club season. If you do this the coaches are more likely to show up at the tournaments and come to the court you are playing on. Now if you get them to come to the court, make sure you are playing your hardest and show an enormous amount of leadership on the court. Coaches look for communication on the court, cheering on the bench, good sportsmanship, and competitive attitudes.

Your club coach should work their butt of to make sure you get to the point of recruitment. They should have your back in this stage of your career. They have a big say and could help you tremendously in the college search. When you are writing emails make sure you include your coach’s name and information, that way the college coach can get ahold to ask question about you. These college coaches would like to have other coaches that know the player better than just watching and not knowing a thing about them have a say and tell the college coach how they play. Club coaches love this, because they get to chat and brag about players they coach. They want every player they coach to go far. They want them to represent the town and state they come from. If you think about it, wherever a person goes to college at and play a sport, they are representing their high school, town, state, family and friends. A lot of people don’t realize that.