Spiking volleyball to new heights

Wednesday, January 29, 1997

COMMENTARY:

UCLA’s team should help propel popularity of the sport

Hye Kwon

Today, we’re here to talk about a great American sport ­
one that was invented by a YMCA physical education teacher in
Holyoke, Mass. in 1895. After 100 years of development and
maturation, it has indeed become one of the most played and most
loved games in the world.

Ah, the peach basket, Dr. Naismith, the canvas sneakers … but
hold your little horsies. That’s not the sport I’m talking about.
Brace yourself for this, it’s volleyball!

Yes, the sport that’s virtually ignored by the sports-addicted
culture of this country, with the exception of Olympics coverage
every election year. The sport that is caricatured as something
inherently limited to beach parties and family picnics for its
realm of appeal. That same sport has a history in America as rich
as Dr. Naismith’s peach basket craze. Just imagine that.

That startling fact brings an interesting question to the
forefront of this discussion. What determines the popularity of a
sport in a particular country? Is it the history of the sport, the
marketing or the presence of a professional league? All of the
above?

It’s not an easy question to answer for anyone, but with a
comparison to its peach basket sibling, volleyball’s relative
obscurity in America may be explained.

The biggest reason for volleyball’s anemic state ­ which
happens to be the biggest difference between it and basketball
­ involves the limitations of its marketing through a
professional league. When you think of basketball, you think of the
NBA, a league that has been dominating the sports marketing scene
in this country for the last two decades.

On the other hand, there’s the Association of Volleyball
Professionals (AVP) tour that enters its 12th year in 1997. The AVP
has come a long way in the United States in the last few years.

Back in the early days of the tour, when legends like Ron Von
Hagen patrolled the beaches, the players played for free beer and
T-shirts. In 1996, Karch Kiraly topped the total earnings chart
with $492,081.

However, without an indoor professional league, like the ones
that usually draw millions of spectators annually in places like
Brazil, Italy and many countries in Asia, the American volleyball
scene is limited to the beer-sipping beach culture that’s typified
by the commercials one sees on television.

Those of us who have any type of experience playing the sport
cannot help but laugh every time a blond-haired actor with a fake
tan and a frail wrist tries to hit the volleyball over a sagging 6
foot. But in the minds of the American general public, that
ridiculous image is the image of volleyball.

Furthermore, the AVP’s appeal is regional at best. Despite what
the league would have you believe, beach volleyball ain’t big in
Cleveland, Phoenix, Milwaukee or any of the other non-maritime
regions where the AVP has scheduled tournaments in 1997. Get real,
Jon Stevenson (AVP president). Beach volleyball cannot succeed
outside of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Seal Beach and other
places that actually have beaches nearby.

Just take a map of the 50 states and locate where Cleveland,
Phoenix and Milwaukee are. Hello! A little attention to detail
please! There aren’t any beaches in those cities. Get rid of that
dumping sand-on-an-urban park business.

If there is one exception to the American apathy toward
volleyball, it is Hawaii. There, the zeal and the enthusiasm that
mirrors those from abroad are evident. I had a chance to attend
summer school at the University of Hawaii this past summer, and I
tell ya, volleyball is a religion over there. In July, a full
month-and-a-half before the start of the season, the UH women’s
volleyball team sold more than 3,000 season tickets for its 1996-97
campaign. Their counterparts on the continent (don’t say mainland!)
would be lucky to draw 3,000 spectators for their most important
matches of the season.

Those of us who have witnessed the Rainbow Warrior invasion in
last year’s NCAA men’s volleyball finals in Pauley Pavilion would
testify on behalf of the Hawaiian love for the sport and their
undying devotion to their volleyball teams. It may be true that a
lot of the Hawaiian love for the sport comes from the absence of
NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB teams on the islands.

It seems that people in Hawaii love volleyball not because
they’re forced to, but because they want to.

Let’s come back to the continent ­ to Westwood in
particular. Here is the truth: UCLA volleyball teams have been the
winningest teams in the history of collegiate volleyball. The women
have garnered six national titles, while the men won their 16th
national title when they beat UH last year. That’s five more titles
than the men’s basketball team. In other words, it’s quite easy to
be a volleyball fan at UCLA.

This year, widen your sports horizon, ye of little imagination.
Watch a men’s volleyball match this spring. Better yet, try playing
the sport. You just might like it.

Kwon is a fifth-year Asian-American studies and geography
student.