Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2019 12:15:44 GMT -5
I was asked elsewhere on the forum about the state of volleyball in England and Europe. I have copied my reply here in case anyone else might be interested. There is a link to the 'Volleyball England' website at the end.
"There are very strong professional volleyball leagues throughout Europe but sadly not in the UK. We have a National Volleyball League structure but the standard is poor below the top (Super) leagues. Most of the top England International players sign up for European professional clubs. I don't know if the English Super League players are paid but if they are, it won't be much.
"My local womens team, Nottingham University, are in the Super League and I went to see their first match of the season last weekend. They have some Americans in their squad and played quite well in a 3-1 win against a team from London, but the overall standard was nothing like as good as Penn State. I have said to several people during and after my Penn State visit that any of the top 25 NCAA womens teams would easily beat the England Senior National team.
"There is virtually no TV coverage here - the last time I saw volleyball on the major TV channels was during the London Olympics in 2012 (which I attended and saw the USA team win their semi against, I think, South Korea). NCAA volleyball is of course available on the ESPN Player via a 'College Pass' subscription - that's how I discovered NCAA volleyball a couple of years ago! Encouragingly though, BT Sport (a subscription TV channel) did cover the NCAA semi finals and final last year. There are very few spectators at even the top English matches - there were about 30 at the Nottingham University match which I think is unforgiveable considering Nottingham has two big universities with a total student population of about 60,000 - many of whom come from overseas volleyball-playing countries. Clearly they don't publicise their matches around campus.
"On the plus side, junior volleyball does seem to be growing and the standard of the national junior finals last year was probably the best I've ever seen. Also on the plus side, I understand last years National Mens Champions (Polonia, London) are taking part in the European Champions League this year and have heavily publicised their forthcoming opening home match.
"Here's a link to the Volleyball England website so you can have a more detailed look if you wish."
www.volleyballengland.org/news
"There are very strong professional volleyball leagues throughout Europe but sadly not in the UK. We have a National Volleyball League structure but the standard is poor below the top (Super) leagues. Most of the top England International players sign up for European professional clubs. I don't know if the English Super League players are paid but if they are, it won't be much.
"My local womens team, Nottingham University, are in the Super League and I went to see their first match of the season last weekend. They have some Americans in their squad and played quite well in a 3-1 win against a team from London, but the overall standard was nothing like as good as Penn State. I have said to several people during and after my Penn State visit that any of the top 25 NCAA womens teams would easily beat the England Senior National team.
"There is virtually no TV coverage here - the last time I saw volleyball on the major TV channels was during the London Olympics in 2012 (which I attended and saw the USA team win their semi against, I think, South Korea). NCAA volleyball is of course available on the ESPN Player via a 'College Pass' subscription - that's how I discovered NCAA volleyball a couple of years ago! Encouragingly though, BT Sport (a subscription TV channel) did cover the NCAA semi finals and final last year. There are very few spectators at even the top English matches - there were about 30 at the Nottingham University match which I think is unforgiveable considering Nottingham has two big universities with a total student population of about 60,000 - many of whom come from overseas volleyball-playing countries. Clearly they don't publicise their matches around campus.
"On the plus side, junior volleyball does seem to be growing and the standard of the national junior finals last year was probably the best I've ever seen. Also on the plus side, I understand last years National Mens Champions (Polonia, London) are taking part in the European Champions League this year and have heavily publicised their forthcoming opening home match.
"Here's a link to the Volleyball England website so you can have a more detailed look if you wish."
www.volleyballengland.org/news
