Knoxville Volleyball

[VolleysoccerDad]

I have followed volleyball around Knoxville for five or six years now and I can confirm that the quality of play at the middle school level has improved significantly. Every middle school team has enough quality players to get the ball into system nearly every play and it actually looks like what a volleyball match is suppose to look like. The Farragut varsity middle school team looks like a high school team and could, in fact, beat many non-volleyball high schools in the area.

 

We are starting to see these changes have an impact at the high school level. If you read the article, there are numerous freshman at CAK, Catholic and Karns with significant roles on their high school teams. That wouldn't happen often in more mature volleyball communities. Whether we like it or not, the days of players being able to make a high school roster, varsity or junior varsity, without significant experience and coaching is likely at an end.

 

K2 has had a role in accelerating the process and so has CBFO. The lack of support by the Knox County School Administration has hurt somewhat. There is also some luck involved in competing against other parts of the state, but I think we will see more competitive teams from the Knoxville area in 2 to 3 years. Karns has a chance this year and we'll see what they do with it.

[PHargis]

From the article: "This area has grown tremendously. We're still trying to play catch-up to the Chattanooga and Nashville groups".

 

Thanks for the dig at us though. I guess as long as your area is better than the rest of the state you'll be content. Maybe they should just shut K2 down now rather than anybody try to help improve volleyball in the rest of the state. We don't want Tennessee as a whole to get a reputation as a good volleyball state do we?

 

Don't think that your impression of this is even slightly correct. The sport is only as good as it is all over the state. It has taken a while just to get the three subdivisions of the State to talk, much less find some reason to agree on improvement. And even there, there comes pockets of resistance for a lot of reasons. Chattanooga has always been strong. Memphis has been strong but its strength has been more concentrated in a smaller area. Nashville area has had a major expansion especailly in a younger group and the fact that Title 9 came about. It has been evident that Knoxville and UET has been up and down but always there and to say that it has grown tremendously seems to be a VERY TRUE statement. Has Knoxville grown more than Nashville and Chattanooga? From my viewpoint which mostly has to do with numbers, tournaments, younger age groups,etc, all parts of the state, growth is happening everywhere but there are without a doubt areas and reasons for segments to not have grown. Smaller communities are growing faster. Volleyball has been isolated in its reporting which is no longer a problem. It is more visable. Patrons are now looking for more performance and training and easier places to get to for its access. Universities are promoting.

So look around and what was a rather a quiet reputation 6 years ago, now is still growing and being talked about and played and there is no stopping. Younger females and their mothers are finding another way to communicate athletically. It seems to work since males, until lately, have not fully embraced the sport. The sport has gotten more athletic. And admit it, better with some changing of rules and club training. There are those who still want to isolate the sport becasue they have had it too long and want to keep a good thing secret but the secret is out and females can be athletic in things other than basketball and soccer.

So VB is strong all over the State and from this view, no one is trying to shut it out of the choices.

[JamesVB]

Don't think that your impression of this is even slightly correct. The sport is only as good as it is all over the state...

 

We actually agree. The winking smily was meant to show I wasn't serious. My point was instead of arguing about which area is better than the others and getting offended when someone gives slight praise to another region of the state, let's all be happy things are on the upswing throughout Tennessee.