sportstyle

T he reality of indoor court volleyball is that it has four seasons — winter, spring, summer and fall. Yes, it is truly a year-round sport in both schools and club programs, leading to a real spike in sales for team dealers. ere are 6.1 million indoor court volley- ball players in the U.S., according to SFIA, and the NFHS reports that there are 479,125 girls from 16,849 schools playing indoor high school volleyball — along with 85,255 boys from 3805 schools. is makes girls' indoor court volleyball the second most popular high school sport — beaten out only by outdoor track and field. According to Claussen, of Coaches Corner, volleyball orders come in every week of the year. "High school volleyball is played in the fall and for the rest of the year, it's travel volleyball," he explains. "Volleyball is a year- round sport for us" and he sells net systems, uniforms, volleyballs, hammocks, socks, knee pads, travel bags and custom tape. But they sell very few volleyball shoes due to the wide variety of available on the Internet that makes it difficult to stock enough shoes to be competitive. Another lucrative volleyball market is for T-shirts for summer volleyball camps in towns such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Muncie. Scott Nelson, founder and owner of Local Team Shop in Coshocton, OH, sells what he calls "vertical" apparel items in the institutional volleyball sector that are needed every year by local teams, coaches, fans and parents. "Every year in late July and early August, I'm selling volleyball team practice apparel and apparel worn by players when they travel to away games, plus polo shirts to coaches," says Nelson, who also sells lots of fan apparel every year to parents. "We will supply uniforms and socks, as needed, but those items are not purchased every year." A popular volleyball item this year: sleeveless shirts. According to Nelson, one of the positive side effects of travel volleyball is how it has impacted spending behavior by parents of high school players. "Because parents of travel volleyball players are so conditioned to paying for everything, they oen don't hesitate to pay for extra items in high school volleyball that previously were issued and paid for by school budgets," he points out. In Michigan, volleyball is most definitely a year-round sport, which is driven largely by travel/club/AAU volleyball. at's great news for Jack Pearl's Sports Center. "We are selling volleyballs, uniforms, socks, knee pads and warm-up apparel," says Miller. "And, if a team needs a new net system or a new net, we will order it." In Glendive, MT, the volleyball business for Squad Sports would be bigger if that local retailer could carry and sell one more category: footwear. But owner Lara Crighton can't sell it because she is unable to get a reliable supplier for the category. "In volleyball and all other sports, I'm shoeless," says Crighton. "Our parents have to drive 75 miles each way to find a pair of proper athletic shoes or cleats for their child in any sport." Outside of that issue, local volleyball pro- grams – a junior college, a high school and a junior high school – are ordering balls, arm sleeves, uniforms, spandex shorts and knee pads from Squad Sports, along with parents and fans buying fan gear. One issue that Crighton doesn't have to worry about is ordering enough of any item in all the necessary team colors. "Fortunately, all of our local schools and colleges all have the same school colors," she notes. Inside The Volleyball Numbers According to the SFIA's Volleyball (Court) Single Sport Report, of the 6.9 million court volleyball participants in the U.S., nearly 70 percent are female and of those 3.4 million of them are considered core participants (playing 13 or more days a year), which is slightly less than half of all players. Of those 3.4 million core participants, 75 percent are female; 52 percent are between the ages of six and 17; and 54 percent come from households whose annual income is at least $75,000 a year The largest geographic concentration (20 percent) of core participants is the East North Central section (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin); and 68.3 percent of them are Caucasian/White. FUN FACT The Minnesota State High School League Representative Assembly met in early May and approved a proposed amendment to Bylaw 520 to include boys' volleyball as a sanctioned interscholastic sport beginning with the 2024-25 school year. That makes Minnesota the 25th state association to sanction the sport for boys. Nearly 2000 participants are currently playing in that state. TEAM / SPECIALTY SPORTS VOLLEYBALL'S NET IMPACT sportstylemag.com • sportstyle September/October 2024 • 31

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