I’ll explain: In the last 40 years, Brazilian volleyball has not seen financial crisis, hardship, depression, or decline.
In 1980, Bernard emerged with the “Space Shuttle” serve, Renan with the deep-sea traveling serve, Montanaro, Bernardinho, William, etc., “launching” a new era in Brazil: the era of volleyball.
Thousands of people, like me, went to the courts to take up this “new” sport, since soccer was by far the number one sport.
We were Olympic silver medalists, and that generation became known, unfairly, as the Silver Generation; I say unfairly because without the Silver Generation, there would be no ones that followed—just as without Pelé, there would be no Ronaldinhos, Romários, and others.
Sports presenter Luciano do Vale became known as “Luciano of Volleyball,” which helped the sport grow even more in Brazil.
Then came Giovanni, Maurício, Tande, Zé Roberto, etc., and the Olympic gold medal arrived, the first for Brazil in team sports.
By the way, the founder of the Olympics, Baron de Coubertin, said: “The only loser in a competition is the one who did not try; everyone who tried is a winner.”
Going back to volleyball, beach volleyball was created with strong support from Banco do Brasil, and its growth was meteoric.
We became Olympic champions several times, with Jaqueline and Sandra; Ricardo and Emanuel; Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt; and Ana Patrícia and Duda.
Investment increased, indoor and beach players began earning excellent salaries, enjoying comfortable lives, and became stars in TV and internet commercials.
I had the opportunity to play in a Brazilian Youth Championship in Ilhéus with Paulão and Paulo Emílio, where we were champions, albeit as amateurs, without sponsorship or earnings, driven only by our passion for the sport. Paulão and Paulo Emílio went on to become beach volleyball world vice-champions in Copacabana against Smith and Stocklos, known in the U.S. as the Kings of the Beach.
If we trace a line for volleyball from 1970 to 2026, it rises like a high-powered rocket.
No other sport, no other company in Brazil or in the world, has grown so much without experiencing fluctuations or seeing its business go through difficulties, even if only temporary.
What lesson do we draw from this? Volleyball was very well managed over all these years; it went from an unknown, resource-starved sport to a sport with million-dollar figures that kept growing, with rule changes to make matches more exciting, professional management, and the creation of pay TV sports channels such as SporTV and ESPN, among others.
That is why companies need to learn from volleyball’s growth, draw lessons for their own business, think long term, and believe in what they are doing.
I’ll conclude by saying: We need to play more volleyball.
