Growth of Boys' Volleyball

 

When thinking about the most popular sports, one will often name sports such as football, soccer, basketball, and hockey. These of course are the most played sports at least in America, but which sport has the most growth among youth athletes? Volleyball, especially for men, hasn't been that popular until maybe around a decade ago. Until I was in middle school I hadn’t even heard of any boys that played volleyball and the team wasn’t that big either. Now though, around 7 years later, there are exponentially more boys’ volleyball clubs in the Midwest and each club has way more teams than it used to. 


So what allowed volleyball to grow among boys, especially in the midwest where there’s no beach to play sand? The biggest thing that will influence a kid to start a sport is their parents and their friends. If your parents don’t put you in volleyball, and your friends don’t play volleyball, how would you know to try it out? Many players come from a second sport, like basketball, because the volleyball coach encourages them to try it. I’ve seen this at my own high school, all it takes is a convincing coach and one could switch sports for good. Then, if the team is good, better athletes will be encouraged to join as well which could result in more players having 2 sports or switching. With this happening at the countless high schools in the midwest, there’s bound to be clubs that get a lot of great players which is why Illinois is the second-best boys' volleyball state, only behind California.

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