November 16, 2024
When it comes to role models for the D3 Men’s Volleyball landscape, family is an overwhelming choice. Over two-thirds of respondents model themselves after their mom, dad or parents. Fathers bring in the highest total at near 40% of players and moms were second at 16%. Support from both parents was at 13%. It’s so great to see grandparents being seen as role models. 6% of players honored their granddads as their role model. And 4% noted a brother in this role.
Outside of family, Kobe Bryant has certainly made his mark on this age group and was the highest non-family influencer. Five percent of all respondents noted Kobe as their top role model. 17% of the total pool had less than 5 responses per each person noted.
Lower totals were received for a large group of personal choices. Notable pros, celebrities and influencers included Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Rafael Nadal, Serginho, Inky Johnson, Ray J, Yadier Molina, David Goggins, Elon Musk, and Iman Gadzhi.
One player listed his main role model as God. Yes, just one.
Only three volleyball related role models were listed among all of the respondents. Keoni Thimm of Hawaii received one vote. One player noted his high school coach and the influence she had on his life as someone he emulates. One player noted his current D3 coach as the person he strives to be. Dan Buehring of Stevens was singled out by one of his players which was just great to see. Congrats to Coach Buehring for earning that respect.
The takeaway here is that family has had an overwhelming positive influence on our current player base. Players look up to these leaders as their main influencers with less focus on professionals from a variety of sports, YouTubers, and TikTok’ers.
That’s great news…
InsideHitter.com will be sharing many of the details collected from its player survey administered in May 2024. We received 270 responses and based on the total population of players, a 5% error rate, and a 50% population proportion; we have a 93% confidence level in the accuracy of our survey results.