Perceptions of certain sports

You know, today in class, alot of stuff was brought up about how people treat others b/c of what sports they play, didn't play or like. We have all been a part of this in one way or another and that ranges from being picked on by the athletes ("popular kids") to being picked last in gym class. And because of this, those people getting picked on get a totally different perception about what those people are actually like.

To start, I can use myself for example. I came from a family where my dad played volleyball and I followed suit all the way through the day I graduated from Missouri and still today. My sister was never very athletic but that was fine b/c she is an excellent excellent dancer in a renown Ukrainian dance group, 'Hromovytsia.' Growing up, all people would ever say if you liked volleyball was that you were playing a "girls sport." I questioned and still do to this day because there are some ignorant people out there, why would you make that assumption if you haven't seen the men's game? The answer is that that is always what it has been...the boy plays football/baseball/basketball and the girl plays volleyball/tennis/softball. And most of these people have never even seen a Men's Volleyball match! Now come to a men's match and can you THEN tell me it is a girls sport? I don't think so.

But all of that is what makes sports fun; the making other people impressed with what you do and educating them, no matter how wrong they may have been. Like they always say, showing is easier than telling. At times, the media doesn't help in certain cases, and this is the same in men's volleyball. Outside of the Olympics and MAYBE a college match, tell me when you hear about men's volleyball? Never. The fact that the volleyball players are LESS well-known that even soccer players (and that's no rift to soccer, as I used to play), is shocking. Until the interest has risen and people begin to see it for what it is, men's volleyball, like every other sport before it, will continue to flounder amongst the small printing in the newspaper, totally not seen by many but all that matters is that if at least one person can persuade another to go with them to a volleyball match, soccer match, name it, that person will never know the experience. And what have we all learned from experience? The more the better.