In the sporting world, men’s sports are more popular than women’s, but that isn’t the case in volleyball. According to Zippier, 78% of volleyball players in the United States are women. This was evident at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where volleyball was one of the sports with the largest audience and public preference, with most […]

The post Understand Why Women’s Volleyball Is More Popular Than Men’s appeared first on VolleyCountry.

In the sporting world, men’s sports are more popular than women’s, but that isn’t the case in volleyball. According to Zippier, 78% of volleyball players in the United States are women. This was evident at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where volleyball was one of the sports with the largest audience and public preference, with most spectators cheering on the women’s volleyball teams.

Even in volleyball sports betting online, women’s games normally have more betting markets than men’s.

Why Is There Such a Difference In Public Preference?

We believe the answer is in the gameplay. We don’t think there is a preference for the women’s team, just a preference for the style of play. Modern men’s volleyball has very different characteristics from women’s volleyball, which may cause a difference in popularity.

Below are some characteristics that put women’s volleyball above men’s.

1. Side-out

The first point we will explore is the preponderance of the attack over the defensive system (blocking/defense) in the male category. With the pass in hand, the male category has an attack that, in most cases, takes advantage of the defensive system. Strikers put the ball on the ground very easily.

2. Strength

Another important issue is the difference in the strength of the two categories. Without forcing the serve, men’s teams have no chance of defending a ball or blocking it. This is regarding situations when a ball is passed for free to the other side. There is almost no possibility of defending or blocking due to the speed and strength of the game.

3. Errors

We believe this is the main point that differentiates the two categories. As the side-out is much superior to the defensive system in the men’s category, the serve has to be forced, so the margin of error is much more significant.

In the games used for this analysis, the average number of errors in the men’s category was around 59 per game – more than two sets conceded in errors. This makes the game less enjoyable and is perhaps one of the keys to understanding why women’s volleyball is more popular.

4. Speed

Speed ​​isn’t just about the style of play but also the ball. When male players are serving and attacking, they do it so hard that many people can’t even see the ball, much less if it went inside, outside, if it touched the line or the block. In this regard, the women’s volleyball matches are a favorite among fans.

5. Rally

The consequence of all that we’ve discussed is the number of rallies in the game, that is, how long the ball is in play after serving, the number of defenses, coverage, etc. It is indisputable that women’s volleyball is much more interesting to the viewer due to the number of rallies and its entertaining gameplay.

Final Thoughts

Notably, volleyball is a woman-dominated game. Using a sporting country like Brazil, for example, since 2005, its women’s volleyball team has had several successful tournaments, winning two Olympics. This is an unprecedented event in women’s sports in Brazil.

The Brazilian team counts/counted on its best pair of central defenders in world volleyball -Thaísa and Fabiana- and internationally renowned players such as Sheilla, Paula Pequeno, and Jaqueline.

Of course, this streak of success also exists for men, despite the Brazilian men’s team not always climbing the top rung of the Olympic podium. Nevertheless, they have been relatively prosperous compared to many other competing nations.

This situation can be seen in many other countries that play volleyball. This may lead people to follow the winning team more. But this is, of course, just a hypothesis.

The post Understand Why Women’s Volleyball Is More Popular Than Men’s appeared first on VolleyCountry.