Volleyball is an exciting sport for spectators. During the Beijing Olympics, viewers watched indoor and outdoor volleyball in mass. The FIVB, which governs international volleyball competition, reported that volleyball events in Beijing were among the first to sell out of tickets. College teams like Wichita State and Nebraska regularly fill their home arena with spectators, most of which are not college students. High school teams play in the fall in front of excited and loyal fans.
Despite this evident interest by fans that are not related to the girls, newspapers in major markets tend to ignore the stories in the gymnasium and print the stadium gossip instead. During state tournaments, the pictures are there, the story is there, but not the interest. Lack of any previous coverage makes these end of season blurbs mildly interesting at best. No reporter is assigned to really keep track of who is hot and who is not on the high school volleyball court.
Male Sports are Over-Reported
Meanwhile the front of the sports page is repeating the same information that ESPN and USA Today have reported. In cities where the local NFL franchise is terrible, and there are at least four teams winless in week 6 of the 2009 season, readers are still getting an eyeful of how awful the football team is. Wouldn’t it be great to read about a team of girls who overcome adversity and finish the season strong? Would a reader really prefer to read the latest media gaff by a football star or his recent brush with the law? The newspaper editors seem to think so.
Why Doesn't the Media Give More Coverage to Volleyball?
Theories about why this phenomenon is taking place are nowhere to be found on the net. People have to speculate. Perhaps it is because there is something un-masculine about attending high school girls’ athletic events. Most sports writers and broadcasters are still male. When a reputation can be made breaking a story about the local bad boy of sports that is where a reporter will want to put effort.
High school volleyball is an intense and fast-moving sport, but when asked about the attraction, some people would definitely mention the very brief, tight shorts the girls wear. There may be some reluctance to cover a sport where an accusation of sexism based on the appearance of young attractive female athletes might be made.
Give Women's Sports a Chance
Volleyball athletes are not just girls in tight shorts however. They have amazing leaping ability, quickness and arm strength. A net between teams restricts contact, so there isn’t a physical or violent side to the sport. The quickness and strength of hitting or blocking a ball instead of a person is just as exhilarating. Many are the first time volleyball viewers who notice how fast the game is: almost as many as the complainers who dislike the slow tempo of a baseball game.
Newspapers are finding themselves compared to dinosaurs lately. There is a website called Newspaper Death Watch. In addition to reacting to the popularity of electronic media, it would be wise for editors to go local. ESPN is not going to encroach on the high school sports beat.
Female sports teams are not second class. Which Team USA won the soccer world cup? That’s right, the Women’s Team. Which volleyball players’ names are most remembered in beach volleyball? Misty May-Traynor and Kerri Walsh won the gold for the USA in Beach Volleyball in Beijing. Can you remember who the male gold medal winners are?
It’s time for a realistic look at women’s sports and volleyball in particular. Since the men’s volleyball teams do not merit the attention that the basketball, football and baseball teams receive, women’s volleyball can stand out in ways that women’s basketball and softball cannot. Here is a sport for women in which attention to the men does not already dominate. Let the coverage begin.
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