I’M TYPING THIS IN CAPITAL LETTERS NOT BECAUSE I’M YELLING BUT BECAUSE IT IS EASIER AND I CAN SEE IT.

ALL SPORTS KEEP RECORDS OF PLAYERS ACCOMPLISHMENTS.  BASBALL-BATTING AVERAGE-RBI-HOME RUNS-STOLEN BASES AND OTHERS.  FOOTBALL THE SAME THING–YARDS PER CARRY-PASSES COMPLETED-TOUCH DOWNS ETC.  BASKETBALL ALSO HAS LOTS OF STATS.

VOLLEYBALL HAS NO STATS TO COMPRE PLAYERS.  JUST SOME WRITER WHO HAVE AN OPINION ON PLAYERS HE OR SHE HAS NEVER SEEN PLAY.  SO, I SUGGEST THESE STATS BE CONSIDERED FOR VOLLEYBALL:   1. IF YOU PLAY 100 TOURNAMENTS AND WIN 40 YOUR WINNING % WOULD BE 40%. 2. WIN, PLACE & SHOW– PLAY 100 TIMES, PLACE 1^ST – 40 TIMES, —PLACE 2^ND — 20 TIMES, —PLACE 3^RD –15 TIMES, FOR A TOTAL % OF 75%.  I ALSO SUGGEST A MINIMUM NUMBER OF TOURNAMENTS OF 40.  BUT I HAVE INCLUDED 3 PLAYERS THAT DID’NT PLAY THAT MANY.

ALL STATS COME FROM BEACH VOLLEYBALL DATA BASE.  I GAVE MYSELF 1 EXTRA WIN BECAUSE I WON A TOURNAMENT IN SAN DIEGO WITH MIKE OHARA THAT WASN’T INCLUDED.

*THE PLAYERS WITH AN * AFTER THEIR NAME PLAYED IN LESS THAN 40 TOURNAMENTS.

VOLLEYBALL WAS VERY COMPETITIVE AND MORE DIFFICULT BEFORE ALL THE RULE CHANGES.  BEING IN GREAT SHAPE WAS NECESSARY.  I’M NOT SAYING ONE ERA IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER.  WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT THE PLAYERS THAT BUILT THE GAME GET NO CREDIT FOR THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

AN EXAMPLE OF THIS WOULD BE GENE SELZNICK—IN 1955 HE WAS 1ST TEAM ALL-WORLD AT THE WORLD GAMES AND WAS ALREADY A GREAT BEACH PLAYER.  YET HE HARDLY IS MENTIONED WHEN VOLLEYBALL MAGAZINE DOES ITS LISTS.  ABSURD!