Around the Hood: Anyone for volleyball?

Editor's Note: Every week, Rio Rancho Observer sports and education reporter Taylor Hood takes a look at one of the main news items in sports around Rio Rancho, Bernalillo, and Sandoval County. From Gladiator's football to prep cheer to club sports, Taylor will dive in as he takes a look Around the Hood.

Everybody likes volleyball.

OK, so maybe that’s a sweeping generalization based purely on my personal experience. I’ve met plenty of people who don’t really know the sport of volleyball (I may be one of them), and I’ve met a lot of people who love the sport for a few weeks every four years during Olympic time. And the question always comes up: Why isn’t this sport bigger?

Volleyball has all the traits of a major sport. It’s a team sport that requires amazing athletic feats and endless hours of practice. The team rosters are small and easy to grasp. The positions are named after what they do: “middle blocker,” “outside hitter,” etc. (with the very notable exception of “libero,” a specialized defensive position created in 1998 to help increase the length of volleys.) It’s got diving plays and hard hits. It’s exciting. It’s fast. It’s fun to play.

Yet, even with all of that going for it, it still isn’t even on the radar in terms of professional sports in America. A 2023 Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that 34% of sports fans said football is their favorite sport to watch. Twelve percent said basketball was their sport of choice, 9% said baseball, 3% said golf. Volleyball wasn’t even on the list of options. Why?

Maybe it’s because the only professional league in America is still in its infancy? (More on this later.) Maybe it’s that the abundance of other, more-established sports in America robs smaller sports of top talent? Maybe the rise of the iPhone has stunted the growth of new sports? Or maybe it’s just good ol’ fashioned sexism?

Whatever the reason, volleyball’s day may have arrived.

The MLB might not be dying, but it’s certainly losing viewers. The NBA continues to be plagued by load-management issues and a bloated regular season. The NFL is getting more controversial by the year. Individual sports are losing their star power either to retirement (tennis) or to corrupt governments with more money than morals (golf). The NCAA is a shell of its former self.

Combine that with the swift rise in the popularity of leagues like the WNBA, UFC and the USL (OK fine, MLS), and the seemingly endless search for the “next big sport,” which leads us down strange pickleball and Jai alai-related pathways, maybe it’s time to take a look at something new; something that’s been in front of us the whole time like the mousy girl in the '80s movie who takes off her glasses and lets her hair down to reveal the hero’s dream girl.

Rio Rancho is lucky in this respect. We have two well-respected and successful prep volleyball programs in Cleveland and Rio Rancho.

Cleveland alone is primed to send out potentially four D1 athletes in the next two years. At the same time, Coach Toby Manzanares at Rio Rancho has spent the last 27 years building one of the most successful high school volleyball programs in the state.

Rio Rancho also has plenty of volleyball to be played outside of school settings. The Rio Rancho Volleyball League, for example, is a great way to introduce the little kiddos to the game.

For older kids, there’s E3VB New Mexico, now entering its sixth season. Opened in 2016, E3VB offers camps, clinics and club play to all volleyball enthusiasts. Of course, the club play is serious business, so be ready to try out for your spot if you go that route.

But one thing none of us have is a real professional volleyball league to follow. At least, not one most people have heard of. Like so many sports that are traditionally dominated by women, volleyball gets next-to-zero coverage, and the little amount of national coverage it does receive is almost exclusively college volleyball; a sport in which, until recently, all the athletes played for free.

There is, of course, a professional volleyball league in North America. So why haven’t most people heard about it? Hopefully, the answer is that it’s brand new and not a lack of interest.

The Professional Volleyball Federation began in 2022, but it’s only beginning a league play format this year. More than that, according to the Pro Volleyball Federation website, 2024 will mark the first season that the league will play in major arenas and teams will be owned by professional owners and team operators.

So, maybe volleyball isn’t going to rival the NFL anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an opportunity waiting for someone to exploit. The WNBA’s growing popularity is showing that women’s leagues can be successful. Perhaps there’s a future where the tier of sports below the major American sports (football, basketball, baseball) includes volleyball. Make room golf, soccer, tennis, motor and combat sports, there’s a new kid in town, and she packs a punch.