Do You Know What It Means to Be a Sultan of the Net?

“Sultans of the Net” is a phrase that suits Turkey’s women volleyball players beautifully. It may be easy to say, but what does it really mean to be one? As a man, I will try to explain it as best I can.

Despite all the difficulties of being a woman in Turkey, the players make millions of girls dream with every spike. They inspire children to say, “One day I will be like Eda, Zehra, Vargas, Hande or my big sister İlkin,” and become role models for the country’s future.

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One day I will be like Eda, Zehra, Vargas, Hande or my big sister İlkin.

Being a Sultan of the Net also means teaching hundreds of thousands of women who struggle through every moment of life never to give up. With every point they win, those women can say, “If we want it, we can achieve it.”

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If we want it, we can achieve it.

It means touching the hearts of every mother who faces the country’s hardships with courage, making each of them feel the players are like her own daughters and say through tears of happiness, “I am proud of you, my daughter.”

As I said, the phrase is easy to say. The real achievement is becoming a source of hope for millions of children, young people, women and mothers, and touching their lives so deeply that they call you the “Sultans of the Net.”

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I am proud of you, my daughter.