Hey folks! If you are feeling disheartened about your height or just in a mood to get inspired by exceptional personalities in the world of volleyball, we are going to discuss just that today.
For starters, volleyball is the second tallest sport in the world based on the average height of players.
Height is just one asset aside from other assets like, agility, jump, strength, game skill, communication and even leadership. So, let’s see it as just one asset and see how it fits in.
Different situations require different skill sets in life. Volleyball is no different.
Volleyball is a dynamic sport and with the rise of teams like Japan who have shorter players usually, this should be a push for all players who feel under confident about their height but aspiring to achieve greatness.
Let’s talk some numbers now. For reference, the average height of a female volleyball player is 5 ft 11 inches. The average height of a woman in the US is 5 ft 4 inches. And I am hoping you know your height.
Shorter players have some solid advantages over taller players:
- Quicker
- More flexible
- Tend to work harder to compensate for their shorter height
Advantages of Taller Players:
- Blocking
- Hitting
- Reach is more than shorter players
Let us explore how each position on the court can turn out for you if you are a short player. So, get ready to get inspired towards your dream! First, we will start with beach volleyball and then discuss indoor volleyball.
Shortest players in Beach Volleyball
There are no fixed positions in beach volleyball, as there are only two players on each side, and they are responsible for both offense and defence. Players usually partner with multiple playing partners during the course of their careers. The average height of a woman playing competitive beach volleyball is 5 feet 10 inches. Let us look at some players who excelled despite their short heights!
Megumi Murakami (5 feet 5 inches)
Megumi is a Japanese beach volley player who played in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She has partnered extensively with the Japanese Miki Ishii. In 2018, the pair won their first World Tour medals at the Tokyo 3-Star tournament, grabbing the 3rd place. This pair has also won the AVC Women’s Beach Tour CAN THO Open in 2019. Megumi finished 3rd at the 2016 Asian Games and 5th at the 2014 Asian Championships.
Game plan to combat her height disadvantage: She has sharpened her defensive instincts and is very quick. She relies on excellent wits to win points.
She tries to avoid taller blockers by smartly places sets. She has faced issues when facing much taller players with a good reach at the net.
Katie Spieler (5 feet 5 inches)
Being a beach volleyball player, she needs to be an all-rounder. But not many know that Katie is particularly dangerous when it comes to defence. Katie played for her college in Hawaii, where she was honoured as an All-American twice. She graduated as the school’s all-time leader in number of matches won. Interestingly, she also earned the highest GPA amongst student-athletes in the last two years at college. This is a huge boost for aspiring players who wish to conquer both studies and sport. She made her pro beach volleyball debut aged 19 and has continued ever since in AVP beach volleyball tours since then.
Game plan to combat her height disadvantage: Katie is excellent at placing the ball into deep corners and edges, and witty pokies right over the net, that are almost impossible for the taller players to get to.
Nathalia Alfaro (5 feet 5 inches)
Nathalia is a Costa Rican player. She partnered with Karen Cope at Rio 2016 to become the first Costa Rican beach volleyball team to compete in the Olympics. Her short height has never made her give up and she continues to inspire many young women in her country. She has come out as the winner in five consecutive Costa Rican beach volleyball championships, from 2005 to 2009.She also played indoor volleyball for a short time with her national team. She is surely one of the very best in her country.
Game plan to combat her height disadvantage: Natalia is famous for her tactical serves that often trouble opponents. She has practised serving and ball control more than others that have made her invaluable to her team. She also works intensely on her agility and reflexes to help her cover the court better.
Shortest players in Indoor Volleyball (ordered by position)
Libero
The libero is a defensive specialist and doesn’t spike or block. This implies that she doesn’t need to be tall. This position demands that a player be agile, good with defence and have a good reach. Although being tall offers good reach, being too tall affects one’s agility and the ability to get low on the floor quickly.
The average height of the female Libero is 5 Feet 7.6 inches, based on data from the Volleyball Nations League.
Players to watch out for:
Jorella Marie “Ella” de Jesus (5 feet 2 inches)
Ella is a very skilled Filipino libero. She is one of the shortest volleyball players and she proves that height is no barrier to be an all time great. Prepared to be surprised, as Ella was a former Best Spiker and Best Blocker on her high school years. If you are wondering, let me tell you that high school has less stricter rules when it comes to height requirements for players. Ella must have displayed extraordinary skills to be chosen for the conventionally tall-player positions. Although she plays as a libero during most games, Ella is a talented Outside Hitter (more about this position later) as well and plays the position sometimes. She is very popular on social media as well, with close to 460K followers. She has worked her way up to become one of the most influential figures in the sport of volleyball.
This star libero is also a killer Outside hitter! Being so short at 5 feet 2 inches, she is a remarkable example of a player who defies imagination with her jumping and spiking ability.
Best plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0IAReZZDlY
Supattra Pairoj (5 feet 3 inches)
Supattra is a libero from Thailand and currently plays for the Thailand women’s national volleyball team. Despite being just 5 feet 3 inches. That’s right!
She has been a regular standout at Asian games and holds the award for the best libero in the Thailand league in back to back seasons from 2016 to 2018.
Tapaphaipun Chaisri (5 feet 6 inches)
Chaisri is a versatile libero who represented the Thailand women’s national volleyball team for 14 years. She started her career off by bagging the MVP in the 2009 Asian University games and has never looked back since then.
She won the Asian Club Championship an astonishing 3 times in a row between 2009 and 2011, and that too with different teams.
She has developed her skillsets in such a way that she is often called upon to become the Outside hitter in her team. What’s more baffling is that she has been awarded the “best spiker, ‘best libero”, “best server” and “best receiver” awards during her career. What a prime example of an all-round athlete and an inspiration for us in becoming an invaluable asset for our team.
Outside Hitter
This player is the most versatile player on the court and is good at all the skills of defending, blocking and spiking.
Average height of female Outside hitter is 6 feet 0.6 inches. This is almost 9 inches above the average female height. But there are some exceptional shorter talents, and you can be one of them too if you want!!
Players to watch out for:
Mami Uchiseto (5 feet 7 inches)
Uchiseto is a Japanese Volleyball player who plays in the V.League 1, the top league of professional volleyball in Japan and she represents the Japan’s national volleyball team.
She won the 2017 Asian Championship with the Japanese national team and was awarded the “Best Receiver” at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Grand Champions Cup. This is a good reminder of the fact that Outside Hitters make a mark not just by spiking, but by other skills like defending as well.
She is famous for reviving the use of a particular type of serve, known as the “RoundHouse” serve during a match in 2014. This type of serve is difficult to return but is rarely used due to it being difficult to master.
Wilavan Apinyapong (5 feet 8.5 inches)
Despite being relatively taller than the other two players on this list, Wilavan is still 3 inches shorter than your average Outside hitter. Her achievements make her a no-brainer to be on this list.
She is a Thai player and former captain of the national team for 8 long years from 2008-2016. WOW!
She led her team to become Asian Champions in 2009 by beating China for the first time in history. And wait. She was just also the MVP of the tournament as well. She has represented Thailand for a whopping 20 years before finally retiring in 2020.
She has been awarded the best spiker in the Thailand league 3 times and the best outside spiker in Asian Club Championship on 2 occasions.
For those of you who are student athletes, Apinyapong loved to study and holds a master’s degree from the Bangkok University. There is nothing that stopped her and nothing that can stop you too!
Maria “Deme” Morales (5 feet 7 inches)
Okay, I accept it. This is a very old photo of her, sometime close to 2014.
Her quick footwork and ability to read the court is beyond amazing. During her days as a university player in the NCAA, she was renowned for her digs. A dig is a defensive move to prevent the ball from hitting the floor after the opponent has spiked the ball. This shows Deme’s defensive prowess.
She was consistently among the best spikers in the Big Ten Conference Volleyball (a college level competition of the top teams) and earned a lot of points for her team through her spikes, or “kills” as we often call them. An attack is called a kill when it is unreturnable by the opposition. Fun fact: When a spike hits the face of a player in the opposing team, it is called a “facial” 😀
Deme has been a source of inspiration to many short players due to being one of the shortest but efficient outside hitters in the sport. She currently plays for the Puerto Rican club Leonas de Ponce. She loves to cook food, dance and listen to John Mayer.
Middle Blocker
Middle blockers are often less concerned about passing and setting and focus more on hitting and blocking. Hence, being taller becomes more advantageous. Middle blockers are typically the tallest players on the team.
The average height of the female middle blocker in professional volleyball is 6 Feet 2.4 Inches
Fear not if you are a female under 6 feet as there is still hope. Check out these MVPs!
Aya Watanabe (5 Feet 9.2 Inches)
Watanabe is a solid middle blocker hailing from Japan. She plays for the Hitachi Rival club in Japan’s premier volleyball league. She is fondly called “Aya” by her teammates and is a foodie by heart. She is almost half a foot shorter than the average middle blocker but that doesn’t stop her from making exquisite blocks. Blockers usually have to jump without a run up and hence the standing vertical jump is a good metric to judge blocking ability. Aya’s standing vertical jump is a hefty 290 cm, which is just short of 10 feet.
Fun fact: There is another Aya Watanabe who is a professional Japanese basketball player. I guess apart from training, naming your daughter as Aya could surely improve her chances of success in sports 🙂
Opposite Hitter
The opposite is considered to be the most versatile player just like the Outside Hitter. They are the usually the second tallest player in the team, only behind the middle blocker. They are a little shorter than the middle blockers but considerably taller than the Outside hitters. This player primarily focuses on hitting from the right side of the court. This is why they are also referred to as the “right sided hitter”. Like the outside hitters, it is beneficial for these players to be tall and powerful as they have to attack and block the ball.
When they are positioned in the back row, that is, behind the 10-foot line, they are in charge of defending and spiking the ball from behind.
The go-to hitter for setters is usually the Outside Hitter. As a result, the opponent team’s blockers don’t expect the setter to use them often. Hence, when the setter does pass the ball to the opposite hitter for spiking, there is a chance that the opponent team is caught by surprise. This makes the Opposite Hitter hard to block against and a very dangerous asset to their team.
The average height of a female opposite in professional volleyball is 6 feet 1.8 inches.
But keeping in mind that talent shines everywhere, if you are a female under 6 feet, fear not as there are shorter opposites who can crumble all opponents. Here they are:
Jung-Won Moon (5 Feet 8.5 Inches )
Jung-Won is a South Korean who currently plays for the club Gimcheon Korea Expressway. Her club won the league in 2022-23.
She is the shortest female opposite currently competing in the Volleyball Nations League.
She is an excellent server of the ball and is one of the few players to have achieved 1000 points in her career as a serve. This is something that impresses me a lot. She has mastered skills which don’t require height and has set herself apart in the world of volleyball. All the young buds, take note!
She has consistently been conferred as the “Best Server” in the Korean All-Star games and the Korean V-League, which is the top tier of club volleyball in South Korea.
Setter
The setter is known as the brain of the team. They run the offense and “set” the ball for the spikers to attack. Their touch on the ball needs to be accurate and delicate so that the hitter can score a point.
In the modern era, being tall as a setter is becoming less important.
It is no surprise that being taller makes a setter more attractive within a team but if the setter is very effective, height can be overlooked. The setter needs to be highly skilled in ball control and game awareness. These traits are fortunately independent of height!
The average height of a female setter in professional volleyball is 5 Feet 10.6 Inches
Some of the world’s best setters are short in height. Read about them here:
Jamenea “Jem” Ferrer (5 feet 2 inches)
Jem is a Filipina volleyball player. She is a powerhouse name in the UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines) and was a part of the famous “Fab Five” during her days with the Ateneo Lady Eagles team.
She was awarded the “Best Setter” in 3 out of her 4 seasons while playing in the UAAP.
She currently plays for Choco Mucho Flying Titans in the Philippines’ premier volleyball league.
Yoshie Takeshita (5 feet 2.6 inches, Retired)
Yoshie is a former Japanese player who played for the national team for 15 years. Post retiring, she also coached the Japanese volleyball team Victorina Himeji.
Yoshie Takeshita is nicknamed “The world’s smallest and strongest setter”.
She possesses a high-quality game awareness and incredible ball control to deliver the ball to spikers. She captained the national team to win the 2006 Women’s World Championship and took home the MVP and Best Setter awards. She won the Best Setter award again in the 2011 world cup, before retiring in 2012. Her contribution to Japanese Volleyball is well known and she was placed as a member of the directors of Japan Volleyball Association.
At just 5 feet and 2 inches tall, she proved that her height is no barrier. She has played in 3 Olympics and won the bronze medal at London in 2012.
YouTube Link to her best plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whXPgKe-M_o
You will find her wearing the #3 Jersey in the above video.
Deborah “Debbie” Green-Vargas (5 feet 4.2 inches, Retired)
Being born in South Korea, no one expected her to be known as the Greatest American Setter of all time. She started off her career with a blast by becoming the youngest player ever to be honoured with the “All-American” status at the age of 16. You can read about what this means in the FAQ section.
She started playing volleyball thanks to her father. Her father started playing casual volleyball as a way to rehab from a skiing injury and took Debbie to accompany him. She hated the sport initially and her father enrolled her in the school team assuming that it would help her enjoy the sport. But she wasn’t welcomed by her teammates and the coach won’t coach her because they didn’t see potential in her. Debbie told her father that she wanted to quit on a weekly basis, but her dad encouraged her to keep going.
To compensate for her small height, she mastered the Jump Set. Debbie used to practice jumping high for hours in her garage which helped her developed this lethal weapon. In matches, she would jump and then control the ball to set it for her hitters. This makes it much tougher to control the ball, but Debbie and we don’t care about toughness, do we!?
Jump Sets allow players to create more speed in the attack which gives less time to the opponents for thinking about their movement.
Debbie led her University Team USC Trojans to register a first ever perfect season with 38-0 win loss record at the 1977 National College Championships. Although she was touted to win a medal for her country at the 1980 Olympics, the infamous 1980 Olympic boycott by USA made her wait 4 more years before she finally won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics. She was inducted in the USVA Hall of Fame in 1986 and was the first woman to be selected for the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. Her Coach Selinger at the 1984 Olympic Games would later claim that Debbie raised the bar for setters among volleyball players worldwide. This 5 feet 4 inches woman is a legend!
She had an equally bright coaching career that lasted more than 23 years. She even ran camps for setters to train young talents.
Nootsara Tomkom (5 feet 6.5 inches)
A relatively taller player than others on the list, Nootsara is still 4 inches shorter than your average female setter. She has represented the Thailand National team for more than 20 years and is considered one of the best setters in international volleyball. She has won countless Best Setter awards in Global Championships and has also won gold at 10 consecutive Southeast Asian Games with her national team. Let that sink in!!
Referring to herself as Setter no. 13, Nootsara has one of the most active public lives for an athlete with 1M followers on Instagram.
Young Nootsara started playing volleyball because she wanted to follow in her elder sister’s footsteps. She also aspired to study from a Bangkok University and wanted to get a sports scholarship to reduce the financial burden on her father. She started with playing in all positions, but her coach recognised that setter is the position for her. Nootsara is a skilful playmaker, one with a calm head and she focuses on involving all her teammates in the gameplay. Adaptability is her key strength, and she emphasizes on understanding the diverse nature of each spiker to set the best ball for them.
She looked up to senior setters like Prim Intawong and Yoshie Takeshita.
Watch her play here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXVeau9CpeY
So, these were the important players who defied their heights to be exceptional. To round this article up, keep in mind that height is just the cherry on top of the cake. You and your attitude are the entire cake.
Frequently Asked Questions
What height for a female is great for volleyball and what height is just good enough that I can make it with more hard work?
If you are an adult, being over 6 feet is a great height to excel in volleyball. But even if you are in the range of 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 6 inches, you can excel by being smarter and working harder.
Should I decide my position based on my height or interest?
The position of a player is determined by their skills and preferences. I would say go with interest even if your height is below the average for that position. But we have to be practical and if your height is 6 inches to 12 inches below the position’s typical height, I would advise to go ahead with the position only if you are exceptionally dedicated to it.
What does it mean to be an “All-American” in a sport?
It is an honour given to the best performing athletes across all colleges in the USA. Players have to play exceptionally well, get nominated by their coaches and voted upon by the American Volleyball Coaches Association to finally be selected as All Americans. In volleyball, 42 players across the country are selected as All-Americans each year.
What skills do I need to perform a Jump Set?
Jump setting means to set the ball while you are in your jump. Normal setting from the ground is more predictable as compared to jump setting. You have to perfect normal setting first before moving to jump setting.
It requires critical thinking, visual awareness of the game, exceptional body balance and precise control of the ball to execute an effective jump set.
What is a pokey?
It is a type of a soft hit. When a player uses their knuckles to drop the ball over the net as a form of a very light attack, like a drop shot.