Athletes go where they find success. Basketball is a difficult sport to master. Unless you’re willing to put in the time and effort and have a certain level of athleticism and hand-eye skills, you will not be successful. You will be pushed out of the sport because of what it demands. In volleyball, those barriers are lower. Basketball is an incredible sport. It requires talent and athletic ability. Yet the exact same is true of volleyball.

Just like basketball, it takes years to hone volleyball skills. Volleyball requires long practices in the gym (or in the sand) multiple times a week. Approaching, hitting, serving, passing—these aspects of volleyball may not look hard. However, playing at a high level requires an athlete to master a very specific technique for each skill. In this regard, volleyball is no different than basketball. Anyone can pick up a ball and shoot it at the basket. But it takes a lifetime of practice to be as good as the best NBA and WNBA players. The ladies on the Olympic volleyball teams might make it look easy. That’s because years of practice have refined their movements so they appear fluid and graceful.