The popular team ball game, volleyball, was invented in the late 19th century in the United States. A few years later the volleyball ball was developed and produced, and just 20 years later several countries could boast of having national volleyball federations.
Volleyball is a team sport game involving two teams. The competition takes place on a special court, which is divided by a grid. The task of each team is not to let the volleyball thrown over the net to touch their half of the court. Also, players are not allowed to touch the ball more than three times in a row. In general, the game in indian online casino is familiar to everyone, so it is probably not necessary to explain how it works. But, as for the most famous volleyball players, they may not know them all. It is about these great people in their business will be discussed next. Of course, it would be impossible to list all the prominent athletes, but we would like to touch on the biographies of some of them.
In 1964, volleyball was listed as an Olympic sport. Thanks to our list, you will learn about the top 10 volleyball players, like:
- Bruno Rezende;
- Said Marouf;
- Lloy Ball.
Bruno Rezende
Bruno Rezende, 32-year-old Brazilian liaison, leads the world of volleyball in terms of the total number of followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It is on the analysis of official accounts in these three popular social networks that our study is based. However, an exception was made for Chinese players: Weibo, a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, is much more popular in China.
Olympic champion Bruno has record numbers for volleyball on Twitter: more than a million followers. He’s gained them since September 2009. Since then, Brazil has won the World Cup, taken the Champions Cup three times and played in the Olympic finals twice, triumphantly completing the home Games in Rio 2016. And each victory added thousands of new subscribers to the Brazilian captain and leader, since volleyball is the second most popular sport in the country. However, soccer in Brazil is not even a sport, but a religion, and the players are icons. For example, Neymar has 100 million followers on Instagram and 40 million on Twitter.
But Bruno’s audience is also enough to make money from his popularity. On his social networks there are integrated ads for sneakers, food, toilet water, and even an app to determine biological age. Twitter is not just entertainment for Bruno, but also a platform where he expresses his social position. For example, he often criticizes Brazilian politicians, expressing the opinion that due to corruption the country does not use the legacy of the Olympics in any way. Bruno is most active on Instagram, where he also has more than a million followers. But the record belongs to another binder.
Said Marouf
Said Marouf has 1.7 million followers on Instagram. He is one of the idols of the nation and the second most popular Iranian athlete after Rubin Kazan footballer Serdar Azmoun (2.7 million). Only Iran’s top officials, who block Twitter and Facebook in the country but do not touch Instagram, have more followers. Next season the number of Marouf’s fans should increase – he will play in the Italian A1 series for Siena.
A huge number of followers on Instagram put compatriot Marouf Mohammad Mousavi in third place on the list. The 30-year-old Iranian national team blocker has a million followers. Not to monetize such popularity is simply a sin, even in an Islamic republic. In May, Mousavi promoted a deodorant and the post gathered almost 70,000 likes. It should be noted that the other players of the Iranian team are not so popular – Milad Ebadipour and Mozhtab Mirzayanpour have “only” 170,000 and 150,000 subscribers respectively.
Karch Kirai
An American volleyball player who, among other awards and regalia, is the only player in the world to take Olympic gold in both the classic game and beach volleyball. The International Volleyball Federation selected Kirai as the best player of the 20th century among men. Today, Karch Kirai is the coach of the United States women’s volleyball team.
Charles Frederick Kirai’s athletic career, the athlete’s real name, began in his childhood years. The passion for sports was passed on to the boy from his father – he was fond of this sport. As a result, on the same field with his father at the age of 11, Kirai Jr. for the first time won a beach tournament on the coast of California. While attending the University of Los Angeles, Karch played on a college team that won the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship three times because of his involvement.
After that was a career on the United States National Team. At the time, Charles was the youngest player. That said, he played in all the games of the Olympic tournament in California and won his first Olympic gold. The athlete ended his professional sports career at the age of 46, but did not retire from the sport. He periodically commentates on beach volleyball on various TV channels and also coaches the women’s national team.
Ana Ibis Fernandez
A volleyball player from Cuba who plays at the position of center blocker. Her career with the Cuban national team began in 1991. That season the team won the continental championship. The next year she won Olympic Gold at the Barcelona Games. For eight years Ana Ibis Fernandez did not leave the Cuban team.
Besides the Spanish gold, the volleyball player has also won two World Championship gold medals, two World Cup titles, as well as many other prizes at international championships. At the Olympics in Sydney, the athlete became a three-time gold medalist, and in 2004 won an Olympic bronze medal.
In 1998 the volleyball player was allowed to leave the country, which allowed Ana Ibis to play first for Italian and then for Spanish clubs.
Lloy Ball
American volleyball player who is the only player on the United States national team to have competed in four Olympic events. During his college years, Lloy was good at both volleyball and basketball. He was interested in coaching the Indiana State team, but Ball stayed on the volleyball team that his father coached.
As early as age 17, Ball played his first game on the U.S. national team. It was the youngest debut ever. Five years later the volleyball player won the World Championship in Greece, and a year later he took part in the Olympics.
After the end of the third Olympics in 2004 Ball announced that he would no longer play in the national team. However, the athlete continued to take part in the games as part of the Greek team.
Meanwhile, things in the American national team were not going well, the team finished the 2006 Championship in tenth place. The head coach invited the player to lead the team, and Ball again became its captain. Already in 2007 the volleyball player was named the most valuable player of the continental championship.
Dante Amaral
He is a Brazilian volleyball player, occupying the position of an assistant player. His track record in 1980 is impressive: he won three World Championships, one Olympics in 2004, and two medals (2008 and 2012).
Professional career of the athlete began in the Brazilian club, where he played one season. At the same time Dante started to play for the national team, where he quickly got accustomed and moved to the main roster of players. Just a few years later Amaral moved to Europe, where he played for clubs in Italy, Greece and Russia.
In 2011, the athlete decided to return to his homeland, where he began playing for the newly created club. However, already in 2013 the volleyball player moved to the Japanese team.
