History of Volleyball – Summary, Origin, Creator and Rules

history of volleyball

History of volleyball: We explain everything about the history of volleyball, its creation and development to the present day. Its rules and technical foundations.

History of volleyball

The name volleyball in Spanish (and its variants volleyball, volibol, balonvolea or vóley), derives from the English “volleyball” and refers to a discipline of more than one hundred years of existence that was created in 1895 by William G. Morgan, director of physical education at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of the United States.

Originally it was called “mintonette” but, during a demonstration, they noticed that the volleying of the ball over the net described the essence of the game and so they began to call it “volley ball”. In 1952, the North American Volleyball Association unified the words to officially call it “volleyball”. You must read about Volleyball Rules once.

Volleyball is a sport played on a court divided in half by a net, where two teams of six players each face each other. The objective of the game is to pass the ball over the net so that it touches the ground of the opposing court, without the opponent being able to reach it.

It is played by hitting or pushing the ball and each team has a maximum of three hits to pass it to the opposing court. Players on the same team rotate their position as they win points.

Creator of volleyball

William G. Morgan was born in Lockport, New York in 1870. As a child, Morgan attended public school and worked in his father’s shipyard on the banks of the old Erie Canal. While attending Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Massachusetts, he met James A. Naismith, then a YMCA physical education teacher and the creator of basketball.

Naismith was impressed with Morgan’s athletic abilities and encouraged him to continue his education at the Young Men’s Christian Association International Training School (now called Springfield College). In 1894, Morgan graduated, and it was here that he began the path that would culminate in the invention of volleyball. Maybe you should definitely read about Preconception once.

Origin of volleyball

In 1895, William G. Morgan took over as director of physical education at the YMCA and was faced with a problem: he had to provide exercise without it being too aggressive or intense. He noticed that the game of basketball, despite being very popular, was too tiring.

He wanted an alternative that did not require so much hitting and shaking, so that it would be suitable for a wider audience. Morgan took ideas from various sports, such as the basketball ball, the tennis net, the use of hands in handball and the concept of innings in baseball. Thus, he created a discipline that he called “mintonette.”

A year later, the game of mintonette proved very popular and gained an audience at the YMCA Conference of Physical Directors, held in Massachusetts. There, Dr. Alfred Halstead, a professor at Springfield College, observed that the highlight of the game was the volleying of the ball over the net. Therefore, he suggested renaming it “volley ball.”

In its early days, Mintonette was quite different from the volleyball we know today. It was played on a smaller court, with a very heavy ball, a lower net, and too many players hitting the ball an unlimited number of times.

Although Morgan probably did not imagine it at the time, decades later volleyball became the second most popular team sport in the world, after soccer.

Global growth of volleyball

In its early days, the game of volleyball gained wide acceptance thanks to the support and diffusion of the YMCA association, encouraged by two professional schools of physical education: Springfield College and George Williams College.

In the early 1900s, Canada was the first foreign country to adopt the game as a sport to be practiced in various institutions. Soon followed Japan (1908) and the Philippines (1910), where it was included in the program of the first Far Eastern Games, in 1913. Thus began its expansion worldwide.

In 1914, volleyball was included in the education and recreation program of the American armed forces. In 1916, the YMCA succeeded in persuading the powerful NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) to contribute to the rapid spread of volleyball among American university students by publishing a series of articles on its rules.

For example, it was announced there that the number of players per team was limited to six, and later, in 1922, the number of touches of the ball per play was limited to three. However, until the beginning of 1930, volleyball was a leisure and recreational game, with few competitive presentations worldwide and with rules that varied according to the country where it was played.

In 1947, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was created in France. This world body is responsible for regulating the rules at a competitive level and holding matches periodically.

At the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, traditional volleyball was played for the first time as a demonstration sport. But it was not until 1964 that it became part of the Olympic specialties at the meeting held in Tokyo.

Today volleyball is one of the most popular sports practiced worldwide, with competitions such as the FIVB World Championship, the FIVB World League, the FIVB World Grand Prix and the Olympic Games. It is a competitive sport of high physical and technical performance that has some officially accepted variants:

  • Beach volleyball: It is played on sand and since 1996 it has been part of the Olympic disciplines, starting with the meeting held in Atlanta that had a stadium built especially on the beach.
  • Sitting volleyball: It is practiced especially among sports for people with disabilities and in 1980 it was incorporated into the Paralympic Games.

Rules of the game

The basic rules of volleyball include:

  • Scoring: The best score in five rounds of play, also called “sets,” is played. The team that accumulates three sets won will be the champion, for which it must reach twenty-five points in each set and with a two-point advantage over the opponent (for example, twenty-five against twenty-three points). If the teams reach a score of twenty-five against twenty-four, they must play until they achieve a difference of two points. That is why the duration of volleyball matches varies so much.
  • The serve: This is the action that starts each game, it is carried out with the player located behind the baseline and the rest of the team located on the limits of the court. If a player serves and the opponent fails to stop the ball, the player scores a point in favor of his team. If the serve fails (it touches the net and falls in his own court or goes out of the area), the turn to serve passes to the opponent.
  • Playing area: It is delimited by a rectangle of eighteen meters long by nine meters wide, and is divided in the center by a net that separates the two playing areas. The designation of the fields for each team is drawn before the match and in each new set the areas are exchanged.
  • Attack zone: The center line located under the net divides the playing field into two equal zones, nine meters by nine meters each. Three meters away from the center line, another line delimits the attack zone for each area, where the actions of the players are limited.
  • The net: It is located in the center of the playing field at a height of 2.43 cm for the men’s category and 2.24 cm for the women’s category. If the ball touches the net, it is not considered a fault and, upon rebounding, the play can continue.

Technical fundamentals of volleyball

The technical fundamentals of volleyball (or any other sport) are the basic principles for learning a discipline, and refer to the motor actions characteristic of the activity. In the case of volleyball, the following stand out:

The serve. There are two types of serve:

  • From below: It is simpler and is used by beginners.
  • From above: It is an offensive technique and success depends on the force applied in the hit, which can be with the player standing still or with the help of a jump in place.
  • The player’s posture: There are three types of basic positions that differ by the degree of flexion of the knees (low, medium and high). This posture and its variants allow players to be alert and act quickly when the ball is received unexpectedly or at high speed by the opponent.

The pass. There are different types:

  • Finger pass: Its main advantage is that it allows the direction of the ball to be controlled very well.
  • Forearm strike: Its main advantage is that it allows you to cushion balls that arrive at high speed.
  • Smash: This is the strike that is given accompanied by a jump, on the upper part of the ball, so that it reaches the ground of the opponent’s court at high speed.
  • Block: This is a jump accompanied by extended hands, which must be done very close to the net to avoid a shot by the opponent.

Most recognized countries in volleyball

The three countries that have won the most medals in international volleyball tournaments in recent years are: Brazil with twenty medals, Italy with fifteen and Russia with fourteen.

References

All the information we offer is supported by authorized and updated bibliographic sources, which ensure reliable content in line with our editorial principles.

Hello, I am Sunny Yadav. I am a writer and content creator. Through my blog, I intend to create simple and easy to understand content that will teach you how to start your online journey!

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