I have been watching some old volleyball matches recently as I become aware of them on youtube or other similar sites. It has been a lot of fun seeing old matches that I have never seen, and in some cases that I haven’t seen in a long time. An old favorite is the men’s USA vs USSR gold medal match. It happened while I was a young high school student with dreams of growing taller than I eventually did. I had dreams of making the Olympic team and competing in 1992 and 1996 games. At the time I had no idea what I was watching, and didn’t realize until later that this match was far more advanced than what I played and was taught, and I’m not just talking about the difference in size, skill, and athleticism. It is a match that I had on an old VHS tape until about 10 years ago when I lost it.
The preceding has a lot to say about how volleyball has changed and why I am frustrated with the lack of change in a lot of volleyball. In 1988 the only times volleyball was broadcast was in the Olympics, and usually only when the US team was competitive. Since USA boycotted the 1980 Olympics, there was basically an 8 year gap in volleyball broadcasts. It was on again in 1984, and then in the aforementioned 1988. The only other opportunities to watch volleyball were high school and college matches. I think largely due to this fact, volleyball was not very good on average. The front line teachers of the game were high school coaches who basically had what they were taught to guide them in what they did. A handful may have had a better hand dealt to them, but they were basically teaching the next generation of players an old, outdated style.
When I played my senior year, the 1984 and 1988 matches were theoretically available for those who managed to tape them, but the tape I recorded as a young high school freshman was a rarity. The team I played on was good, but we were playing in an old system. The US team in 1984 featured the infancy of the modern system of play with player specialisation and 3 passers on serve receive (they only used 2 at the time). I have since learned the system we used was much more similar to the system in play in the 1980 and preceding Olympics. The times being what they were, it is understandable. I didn’t know what I was watching on that tape from 1988 (and wouldn’t until about 15 years later), and I was ahead of the curve even having it.
Fast forward 20 years. I’m living back in my old stomping grounds. I go to a few of my old high school’s boys volleyball matches, and I’m pretty let down. There are elements of the modern game, but there are gaping holes in what is on the court and even what was done in 1988. I’m pretty frustrated by the state of the game. There are many more teams in the state than when I was in school, but the game hasn’t evolved like the international game has. The next season I got to coach my old team, and I teach the modern game. I see a lot more teams than I did the year before, and some of them are using a system similar to the one I played in when I was a student. There was one lone team that played a truly modern system. Just one that I saw. Another team stuck in between had a player committed to play at a perennial power in men’s college volleyball. I kind of felt sorry for the kid. He was going to get to college and have to learn a completely new system of play besides working on skills and conditioning. If he had been playing on my team or that one other team playing a modern system, his adjustments in college would be less severe. He would still need to learn the subtle nuances of his particular system, but the foundation would already be there. It would be more about timing and nomenclature rather than doing things in a completely new way.
I can’t truly express the frustration I feel about this. The video is out there. Olympics are broadcast more thoroughly than ever before. College matches are streamed live online, and some are broadcast on sports channels, conference, and even university owned networks. International volleyball is broadcast on cable channels or on the internet. I just recently enjoyed being able to watch FIVB World League and World Championship matches to see some of the most modern and up to date play in the world. I’d be happy with a bad imitation of what is going on in these high caliber matches, but the average kid playing volleyball, at least in my state, is getting seriously short changed.
No comments:
Post a Comment