History of Volleyball

History of Volleyball

Volleyball is one magnificent game that makes people go crazy. It is a game of passion and energy. It is one of the most celebrated sports game. Volleyball is also a part of Olympic sports event and is played in most of the countries worldwide. However, many people do not know history of Volleyball.

At the end of 18th century, basketball was very famous game and it got immense popularity. Although it was meant for all the people, it was quite harsh and violent game. Children and old age people had a troubled time playing that game. Therefore, to counter this problem, a physical education director of YMCA named William G Morgan created a new sports game for indoor players and called it Mintonette. The game was structured by copying some characteristics of handball and tennis. It was like a option to basketball game and was quite a less rough so that old members of YMCA was able to play the game.

The game consists of a net positioned at middle field and any number of players a both side of net. A single match included total of nine innings with 3 serves for each inning for each team. One can serve the ball any number of times and as it drops in opposition court, the other team gets the points. Ball hitting in net was considered as foul and then second try was allowed; after that, loss of point or side out was there. Morgan invented the game in the year of 1895 and later in the year 1896, game was first exhibited at international YMCA training school and then quickly became popular as Volleyball.
Later the history of Volleyball shows that it gained popularity at other different YMCAs and spread through the country. Today, that YMCA training school is called as Springfield College.

After that history of Volleyball includes how the game evolved and some disputes regarding Game ball and rules. There are some issues regarding the use of first official game ball, however, over the time rules evolved and by the year 1919, new power of sets and spike was introduced and after that back row hitting and ‘three hits’ rules were ascertained. Afterwards, the game seen reduction in number of points and it was reduced from 21 to 15 points game. In the year 1919, American Expeditionary Forces distributed around 16000 balls to their soldiers and allies, and that was major thrust to Volleyball in other countries.

After that, history of Volleyball reported immense growth in other countries. Canada is the first country where the game of Volleyball was first played outside United States. Then international authority body called as Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) was formed in 1947. Latter first men’s championship was held in the year 1949 and for women it was held it 1952. The game became immense popular in Brazil, European countries mainly Italy, Netherlands and then in Russia, China and other eastern countries.

History of Volleyball also seen some interesting events like first variation of game discovered and it was called as Beach volleyball played on sand and consisted of only two players on each side. Latter it became popular and was added in Summer Olympics in the year 1996. The history of Volleyball with Olympic states that it was first officially included in Olympic in the year of 1964 because of its immense popularity and success in sports worldwide.