I’ve just heard the news about the US women’s volleyball team awhile ago that they qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic games and they were undefeated in that tournament which makes it really impressive.
I’ve also heard the news about the US men’s volleyball team defeating Canada all in 3 sets.
I’m sure most Americans never heard of these news so I’m curious on what are the reasons why the US still have competitive teams despite lacking any professional volleyball leagues?
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Because its still a huge recreational sport and at the amateur college ranks its a huge national game.
I played some intramural college volleyball, and let me tell you, some people can play.
Hang out at any beach on a Friday or Saturday after noon and you’ll find some *players*.
Heck. The best college volleyball team in the country for the last many years is smack dab in *Nebraska*.
Edit: of note, find me another place in the world they pack 92,000 fans in for a volleyball game?
https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-women/article/2023-09-14/womens-college-volleyball-all-time-attendance-records
This is the all-time record for attendence for *any women’s sporting event in the world ever.* Absolutely baller.
They play in high school and college. That’s enough competition to keep them competitive
TIL professional volleyball leagues exist.
Generally in the US we have a lot of money for sports training and the college athletics system is a massive training ground for Olympic non-revenue sports that other countries do not have at all.
Other countries may have professional leagues but we have literally 344 division one teams just for women.
We have hundreds of college volleyball teams, likewise, youth volleyball is a big thing, parents dump a lot of money into it. We produce a lot of talented volleyball players.
Playing in a pro league isn’t a requisite for being an Olympic athlete.
The NCAA sponsors more sports than just football, and some teams are basically international caliber in many sports.
American college sports is bigger and more lucrative than the vast majority of most professional leagues.
[92,000+ People watched a women’s college volleyball game earlier this year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZxucJy1Uos)
It’s an attendance record for any women’s sporting event globally. Ever.
It’s a substantial NCAA sport
Amateur sports are huge in the US. The US regularly produces athletes that compete on a world stage who practice their sport as a hobby instead of a career. This happens in a bunch of different sports. In some cases, top athletes get enough sponsors that them competing internationally gets them all of the income they need, but there are others who are just playing for fun and are *that* good.
Volleyball is one that has a very broad and active base of players who play for fun. It’s a popular recreational sport and you will see volleyball nets set up all over the place. It’s not shocking at all that we produce some top athletes. Almost everyone has played recreationally and many people compete in high school and college. Very easy for the top players to turn into international players. Keep in mind that US college sports are as competitive as professional sports in some countries. If someone played DI NCAA Volleyball, they were basically a professional athlete in terms of skill level and time spent training, even if they didn’t get paid for it.
Because oft our college sports teams could compete/win at the professional level.
Just because we don’t have popular pro leagues does not mean we lack a deeply competitive affinity for it.
I still remember watching Clay Stanley carrying Team US to gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
University of Nebraska set a record this year for most attended women’s sporting event. 92,000 people watched a women’s college volleyball match. It’s a super strong system from children all the way through college age. I believe there’s also a strong club system which is unknown to most
I haven’t looked, but I’d bet a lot of the professionals playing overseas are Americans.
It’s big at the collegiate and club level.
Because it’s played by women in school. US School sports are way bigger than most pro leagues.
Apart from the other answers, isn’t the Olympics generally an amateur competition? I’m not boned up on the rules exactly and I think it varies by sport but the US Miracle on Ice team was mostly college players and the Olympics soccer team used to (might still have) some rule about it being U-21 with like 3 full men’s team players.
You don’t have to be paid to be passionate about something.
Is there any country where there are serious professional money-making volleyball leagues?
By the time you reach olympic-caliber play you’re likely working as a professional in whatever sport you’re in even if it’s not happening as part of an organized league. Lots of Olympians have endorsement deals and also will do their own coaching and sometimes just straight up fundraising. I don’t know about Volleyball in particular but look at the overall number of sports in the Olympics and I don’t know if you’ll find some legit pro-league for a lot of them.
Nebraska just had 92k people show up for a women’s volleyball game. The biggest volleyball and women’s sporting event in history. We’re going to have not one, but two pro volleyball leagues start up. We’re working on it.
Not sure if it will go anywhere but [they are starting a professional women’s volleyball league in the US in 2024.](https://www.provolleyball.com)
They’re competitive because they’re offered contracts to play in professional leagues overseas, mainly in Europe.
Majority of the starters on the US Women’s team have contracts to play in Italy and Turkiye from October to May. These two countries have some of the top volleyball leagues in the world and therefore attract the top talent.
The US coaching staff takes league performance into account when creating the women’s roster, so overseas performance is a big deal.
On a side note, two women’s professional leagues are starting next year in the US – LOVB and Pro Federation.
Because college volleyball exists and it is functionally equivalent to a pro sport.
We have huge amounts of funding for college sports because we are a wealthy nation. People from Europe sometimes overlook that because they are more familiar with several ranks of lower tier soccer teams and whatnot.
We just do our sports in college level for sports like volleyball. That means our athletes are world class even if they aren’t in a “pro” league.
Mostly because it’s big at the college and high school level, especially for women.
Our school system produces a lot of good talent, especially the NCAA.
Not the question, but I’m from the small city that invented volleyball, which is cool. We’re in the metro of the major city that invented basketball aswell.
Doesn’t keep Americans from play internationally after college. Ever notice how many international sports figures go to US universities.
My man we have 330 million people. You don’t think we can’t find a couple dozen players who hit the lottery jackpot and actually like the sport? Also college volleyball is popular for women as a spectator sport (not just because… ya know)
Here is the Division I college championship women’s volleyball game: [https://youtu.be/B5GN7esViZc?si=Y0MYg-dHY_s2ki0v](https://youtu.be/B5GN7esViZc?si=Y0MYg-dHY_s2ki0v)
The Texas Longhorns use an annual budget of about $3.3 million dollars for their women’s volleyball team. [University of Texas}
The Kentucky Cardinals use an annual budget about about $2.3 million dollars for their women’s volleyball team. [University of Louisville]
College sports turn out some really good players in most sports. Short of beach volleyball there probably isn’t enough money in it for a pro league here because of all the options. Most Olympic sports make the athletes famous nationwide once every four years if they medal otherwise there’s an obscurity to it.