Volleyball

Modern sports have spawn a commercial competitiveness that often overshadows the athletic competitiveness of the sport. Large companies such as Nike and Adidas have turned just about every form of sport competition into a struggle between the endorsers of Nike and the endorsers of Adidas. Even on the football (soccer) field, long the domain of European brands, Nike has firmly established itself. And the same may be said for the bastion of American sports such as baseball and American football (not soccer) where Adidas clearly has made its presence known.

Athletes, just like in the ancient Greek Olympics, have likewise risen to almost god-like status. Media helps as well in painting and creating such images of the athletes. The word athlete, for example, comes from a Greek word, athletes which at one time meant prizefighter, contestant in the games. Of course today, a prizefighter has a totally different image (a boxer in fact comes to mind) and it does not care quite the same image as the old meaning of prizefighter or one who contested for a prize. But what was the prize for an ancient Greek? Perhaps they too received endorsements. However, I like to think it had more to do with the recognition of the Greek citizen before his own community. Yes, perhaps his community perceived him as a "god"; but more importantly, his community perceived him as an individual representing all that is great about their community. Ancient Greek communities were just that, communities. And all communities needed a hero. A hero, originally from the word heroe meaning "defender" or "protector" is also a variant of heros another Greek work that meant "demi-god." Here, we may propose an alternative then for the prize that was contested by an athlete - the prize was to be demi-god or, in a sense, god-like.

For any mortal to aspire for god-likeness, this would mean that it was a status, condition, perhaps even good (greater good?) that was now removed from the general condition of humanity. If this was the case, then Greek athletes competed for the possibility of achieving a connection or condition that was as close to the gods (or greater good?) as possible. It was not a contest for any earthly prize; it was a contest for a heavenly prize, a god-like attribute.

With this in mind, the whole notion of modern sport seems completely opposite of what its origins may have been. It is true that competitive has often times degenerated into winning - winning is the only thing to paraphrase Vince Lombardi. But what do you win? Money? Fame? Glory? Bragging rights (my personal favorite). Often times, in a truly Machiavellian approach where the end justifies the means, unsportsmanlike conduct is encouraged. Winning has become so important that when a referee makes a mistake, no one on the team benefiting from the mistake takes the chance to correct the referee. Can you imagine a penalty awarded in a football match, where the team taking the penalty knows full well the referee is in error, and the one taking the penalty chooses to deliberately miss the shot? For most of us, this thought, just the thought, is unimaginable.

Last night I had the chance to watch two completely different matches. They were on simultaneously. the first was a rugby world-cup match between Australia and the USA. The USA are minnows in world rugby and the Australians, one of the best in the world, went all out to crush the USA team. There was also the volleyball final between China and Japan for the Asian Senior Women's title.  I can tell you that none of the players were senior citizens in any way, shape or form. Both matches had their competitive moments and exciting moments. Both matches required great skill, teamwork (for those unfamiliar with rugby, you can only move the ball forward down the pitch by passing it backward to your teammates).  And yet there was a startling difference. The difference is not that one was a match between men and the other between women; it was not even that rugby, by its nature is a bruising match and volleyball isn't.What was really startling was how much more rugby seemed like a battle as both sides literally fought, tooth and nail, for possession of the ball whereas volleyball was more a game involving something else, a totally different quality. Both events and matches are highly commercialized to be sure, but the fact that volleyball did not involve a struggle for the possession of a ball or the gaining of territory created a completely different feel to the game. Volley struck me more as a struggle of the individual within the team. With the right teamwork and self-belief, they could win a victory all without struggling or fighting for possession of the ball or territory. Perhaps volleyball's struggle is all within, within the team and the individuals comprising the team.

While both matches reflected the commercialization of sports - one only needed to see all the advertising around the stadium as well as on the shirts of the players, it could not be denied that a sporting event that is primarily an individual's struggle, with only themselves as the real opponents, carries with it a truly different quality. After all, a hero, the community demi-god, such as Hercules, are successful because of their own struggles to rise above their material nature, to rise above their natural limitations. Perhaps this is what sports should be about; about individuals rising above their shortcomings to be all they can be. That is the prize that is being contested, and won.

This small commentary may not change sports as we experience it today. But if all of us try to be sportsman like, heroes in the Greek sense, then the face of sport could change for ever.