Why is Brazil so good?

Question

Do any of you know anything about how they train, or how much practice they put in compared to here in the U.S.

Answer 1

The difference comes from... how much the government can support (funding), and how much time players can dedicate.

US players spent too much time on beach volleyball (AVP Tour) where they could make more for their living.

US basketball, aka "The Dream Team", had a similar story.

Answer 2

It come down to the fact that Brazil has a professional indoor volleyball league in which the players can actually support themselves. I would say many of their good players also go to Italy and Japan as well as other top leagues in the world.

Volleyball is probably the 2nd most popular sport in Brazil after Football as Basketball would be at least 3rd. Volleyball is a bigger part of the sporting culture in Brazil then the USA..

Good luck trying to find indoor pro volleyball in a non Olympic year on TV outlets like ESPN in the USA. Sure AVP (beach is televised) ,not FIVB Volleyball World Championships, even that the ratings aren't that big.

Lastly as the years go by fewer and fewer NCAA teams traditional feeder for Olympic sports offer male volleyball teams as a D-1 sport. Again volleyball was invented in the USA it just didn't rise to the top of the sporting landscape like other sports.

Answer 3

i dont know if its just volleyball but they have a lot of good olympic sports, but from the looks of it they can probably play year round and outside so that give them an advantage

Answer 4

I am Brazilian (and I live in Brazil) and I can tell you that volleyball is part of our culture. It is the preferred sport of many people in Brazil (surpassing even the football). We have the best team of men in the world, one of the best female teams of the world, the best teams youth (men and women). We are good because the Confederation of volleyball in Brazil is very organized and promotes competitions throughout the year with international level of difficulty. In addition, there are many practitioners and interest is growing.

Excuse-me, but I don't speak English very well.

Answer 5

They have fans who are passionate about the game.  Whenever you have that, there's a reason for the central government to give them good and proper funding: professional coaching, facilities, equipment, etc.

Also, because the sport is so popular there, youngsters play it, so they have a talented pool of players from which to choose.

Answer 6

Unlike some people said before, the sport does not receive much government incentive. It developed itself to that point without any government help. Volleyball is the second most popular sport in Brazil. We have a strong professional league, both for men and women. The matches of the leagues passes on cable TV (and in some cases in open TV too) what allow the teams to gain a lot of money with sponsorship and television rights, not only with the tickets. Even though, many players go to play to the Italian leagues, that pay even better salaries.

Answer 7

Ok, I agree with everyone else's opinion, but I'd like to add some extra information here.

Most volleyball teams are sponsored by big companies, Brazilian government doesn't invest as much money as you imagine in sports in general.

What happens is that, just as soccer, volleyball is very appreciated by kids, who usually play it on the streets, at school, etc.

As it's a common practice, many talented kids end up going pro. That's all...

Answer 8

During the seventies volleyball in Brazil start to get more and more attention from everybody. Brazil Volleyball confederation president start a very good job to transform this sport in a real professional sport. He could convince many big companies to support teams. Also the Brazil championship was very well organized. Very good international teams  was brought to Brazil to create a media interest. Brazil long cost was filled with volleyball beach fields, and all volleyball state federations was pushed to become professional administrated.

Soon in eighties Brazil has many volleyball stars in the media, and volleyball games were on TVs and stadiums was full of fans and supporters.

At that time every teen was playing volleyball at school (since it demands less space than soccer, it was easy to setup indoor also).

Many companies that want media coverage start to support volleyball, cost to support a whole team was very much cheaper than one soccer player)

The interest to watch and play did not stop and a second and a third generation of volleyball players succeeded.

Nestlé has supported a female volleyball team, Pirelli supported a male team, and volleyball is now a good career for an athlete.

Retired volleyball players moved to beach volleyball since it demanded more skills and tactics than young explosion, and some become couches of new teams.

Government has played also a important role, Banco do Brasil is the major Brazilian Bank and is also state owned. Govern has envisioned that supporting sports would be very important to promote social inclusion of poor people, and Banco do Brasil started to support many sports including volleyball.

Now volleyball is a very well organized  and professional in Brazil, most athletes can live well with the salaries they receive. Teams has support and are in good financial shape.

Volleyball success in Brazil if a product of a well devised and well implemented long term strategy, and should be seen as case for many countries.

Regards,

Georges