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Why does height matter so much? Sports are one of the main things I can think of that judge people's height for their ability. On the volleyball court my position is outside hitter. I wasn’t always a hitter; I started out playing volleyball as a setter (which is still very rare to see someone short playing that position in higher levels such as college and above), then moved to a back row player, and finally I became an outside hitter. Allow me to break down how I assume every college coach sees and judges players by their height.

Back row players: 2-3 of the shortest girls on the team (anywhere from 5’6 to 5’8) Setters: 1-2 medium height girls (possibly 5’7 to 6’0) Front row players: tallest girls on the team (about 5’9 to 6’4 and taller)

Playing volleyball is one of my favorite things to do. It is probably very obvious because I constantly talk about it in my writing and in class. I have already talked to college coaches about going and playing volleyball at their schools. Most say that they could use me as a backrow player or some just don’t give the time of day. Last year, I was down at Point Loma Nazarene University (my dream college) visiting my brother and sister. A volleyball match happened to be at home so I decided to contact their coach to set up a time to introduce myself to them and talk about my interest in playing for them in the future. As I was watching the game, I noticed that not a single girl was my height; they were all 5’7 and above. After the match was over, I met the coach and sat down to talk with him. The talk was short. He basically rejected me before even seeing me touch a volleyball. He had no idea any of my skills and only looked at how tall I was.

It sucks knowing that because of my height I will never get to play in a division 3 or higher school. I have been told that if I wanted to play my position as a front row player, I would most likely have to play in some community college outside of California. I think that coaches should not judge players by how tall they are, but how good their skills are. Short players could have been some of the best ones on the team, but none of them will ever get the chance to prove how good they are because they got rejected after the first look.