History Of Volleyball

History Of Volleyball

Volleyball is claimed to have been invented on February 9,1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts by a YMCA physical education director named William G. Morgan. He called his invented game Mintonette, which is French. The game had derived its influences from a combination of the rules of tennis and handball. It was designed as a softer alternative to the then new sport of basketball, which involves a sizably larger and heavier ball more directed towards younger, physically able players. The game was intended to be played indoors with an undetermined number of players.

History Of The Rules Of Volleyball

The original inventor of the game, William G. Morgan, specified the net height at 6 feet 6 inches and a 25 by 50 foot court. Matches were broken down into nine innings of teams each serving three times. In contrast to the contemporary rules, there was no limit of three contacts per side during a play, and servers were allowed a second chance, as in the serving in the game of tennis. For the women, who were not as encouraged to play sports then as they are now, it was allowed that they could catch and throw the ball into play in order to lessen the damage done to their delicate fingers which were better suited to sewing or piano playing. Obviously, these notions have greatly changed, with volleyball’s public image being mostly female-dominated. To this day, rules are subject to change and variation among colleges, though universification of the rules is underway.

History Of Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball originated during the early twentieth century (1920s to be more exact) in Santa Monica, California, where there are ample beaches where people played the sport casually long before it became a professional recreation. It then grew in popularity and reached Europe. However, beach volleyball did not reach its peak of popularity until the 1980s. Brazil and the United States of America have proven to be the two most successful countries in volleyball to date, with countries such as Australia and China rising in status as volleyball superpowers. Beach volleyball only officially became an Olympic event in 1996, with much controversy as to the true value of the sport, based on the scant uniforms that female players wear that are too immodest for the more conservative countries included in South-East Asia and of the nations of Islam. However, it is largely popular and mainstream and will most likely continue to be a favored Olympic event.