Here are some thoughts to ponder...according to this thread it seems we are seeing many 'females' falling short in their dreams of playing a 'career' of college volleyball. (It's not to say all or countless...many as in more than we should see) It seems many 'males' have been more prepared to play college ball in their sport based on numbers, professional opportunities and society's emphasis on sports. (Not to say all were prepared) I am definitely not saying this is a gender difference, but there are some things here we may should consider that takes in account the way we are preparing each gender.

Males generally understand the 'commitment/job' factor when entering college sports. (Again, not all) Females, well through my experiences, many don't understand it's a 'commitment/job' at the college level. (I have to keep repeating myself because someone, somewhere will take this out of context...not all or even many females lack this understanding) Males are raised competitive from the get go. Females, once dad and granddad get over 'she is my precious girl' are finally taught to be competitive once they are in their sports for a period of time. Males were taught to go mow the lawn, fix your car, and build the fence, etc since they were small boys. Females were told to play with their dolls, clean the dishes, and cook the meals, etc since they were little girls. Can mowing the lawn provide the tools to compete and find success in our competitive society? Can playing with dolls prepare someone to compete and find success in our competitive society?

Here is another staggering fact, the basis of our world's economic and professional philosophies are based on male ideals. These same philosophies are developed using the tools often taught to males from an early age and developed through team sports. A stat to back this up: of all of the executives in Fortune 500 companies the majority are still males. For those few who are females eighty percent of them played team sports.

Now, if we have known all our lives males perform competitive/constructive activities and females plays with dolls, are we preparing both genders to be successful and have a lengthy career playing sports in college?

Again, this is something to ponder and create opinions/suggestion/ideals.

Some ideals I have thought up, but not necessarily promote for why females aren't as prepared for the next level of college sports (of course, we know almost every problem doesn't have just one issue effecting it, generally there are many different issues collectively to create a problem):

* Females lack enough dreams/opportunities to be professional athletes

* The older generations have set the tone from the get go by how we socialize and raise our kids

* The lack of respect and support for female sports

* The self-entitlement/pampered era

* How parents have put "I" back in team

* The stress of winning/keep our jobs on coaches