History Of Volleyball

Volleyball History and the Evolution of the Sport

Volleyball originated in the United States in 1895 as a blend of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball.

Today, volleyball has spread to 211 countries around the world, and is recognized as a truly international, widely played, popular sport.

In 1895, William G. Morgan, an instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Mass. Morgan created the game of volleyball, at that time called mintonette.

In 1896, the first official game of Volleyball was played at Springfield College.

In the year 1900, Volleyball was popular enough that a new ball was customized for the sport.

Five years later, Volleyball also spread to Cuba. This international signified the start of the Volleyball era.

In 1907, Volleyball was presented at the Playground of America convention as one of the most popular sports. This was the first credit the sport received, and helped to further the sport recognition.

Over the next five years volleyball spread to Central American countries.

In 1913, volleyball was held in the Far Eastern Games. This was the first official volleyball competition.

In 1916, volleyball had arrived in YMCA Brazil and South America. The set and spike was first executed in the Philippines. This offensive system altered how the game was played. For the first time the ball was set in a high trajectory and then spiked by a teammate. The Filipinos created the kill, known in United States as bomba. The bomba was named after the attacker called the bomberino.

Rules and tournaments came about as a result of the formation of the United States Volleyball Association USVBA. The first U.S. Open was staged, as the field was open to non-YMCA squads. The United States Volleyball Association (USVBA) was formed in 1928 and recognized as the rules-making, governing body in the United States.

Since 1928, the USVBA, now known as USA Volleyball (USAV), has put on national men's and senior men's (age 35 and older) volleyball championships every year except during 1944 and 1945.

Women's USVBA divisions started in 1949 and have been growing ever since.

In the late 1940s, some European national federations began discussing the need for creating an international governing body for the sport of volleyball.

The FIVB was founded in Paris, France in 1947. Initial discussions eventually lead to the installation of a Constitutive Congress in 1947. Fourteen national federations representing five different continents attended meetings where the organization was officially formed.

One of the main goals of the 1947 Congress was achieved two years later with the establishment of the first international major volleyball event, the World Championship.

In 1952, a women played in FIVB tournaments for the first time in volleyball history.

For the first time in the history of volleyball, volleyball was played in the Pan American Games in 1955.

In 1957, volleyball was designated as an Olympic team sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In 1959, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) had volleyball be one of the eight competitions held in first University Games in Turin, Italy.

In 1960, seven midwestern institutions formed the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA).

In the 1960's, new volleyball techniques were developed. Off-speed hits, open hand tips, forearm passing, blocking at the net, and defensive plays such as diving and sprawling become a big part of the game.

With the FIVB already having its own world championships, the FIVB directed its attention to the Olympic Games. Thanks to the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, a tournament took place in Sofia in 1957 during the International Olympic Committee meetings. As a result of this event, volleyball became an Olympic Sport.

In 1964, volleyball was first played in the Olympics in Tokyo. Volleyball became a part of the Olympic Games, which allowed it to grow even more. Also, in the 1964 Olympics, the Japanese used a volleyball that consisted of a rubber casing with leather panels. A similar ball is used in modern volleyball competitions.

In 1969, a new international event, the World Cup was introduced. The World Cup would be turned into a qualifying event for the 1991 Olympic Games.

In 1974, Japan telecasted a major volleyball event in Mexico, the World Championships.

In 1983, the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) was founded by Leonard Armato. The organization started its own beach volleyball tour in the United States in 1984.

By the late 1980's, the AVP tour was growing fast due to the promotion of the sport by the professional beach players Tim Hovland, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, and Mike Dodd.

In 1986, the Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA) was formed to administer, govern, and protect the integrity of Women's Professional Beach Volleyball.

In 1987, the FIVB added a Beach Volleyball World Championship Series 1989 - The FIVB Sports Aid Program was created In 1990, a men’s volleyball competition called the World League was created.

The World League is the longest and most flourishing of all the international events organized by the FIVB. The tournament is an annual event.

In 2006, prize money became a major deal with $20 million dollars being distributed amongst 16 participating teams from 5 continents. The World League is sometimes confused with the other international volleyball competitions – Volleyball World Cup and Volleyball World Championships.

In 1995, the sport of Volleyball turned 100 years old.

In 1996, for the first time in the history of volleyball, beach doubles volleyball is included in the Olympic Games.

Major events in the 90’s took place including the establishment of annual competitions for men's and women's volleyball (the World League, in 1990, and the Grand Prix, in 1993), the indication of Beach volleyball as an Olympic event (1996). These events and many rule changes in the game were made the purpose of enhancing the popularity and public visibility of the sport.

William G. Morgan (1870-1942), invented volleyball in 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Morgan, who was born in New York, is known as the inventor of volleyball which he originally named Mintonette.

Later, Alfred Halstead re-named Mintonette volleyball because the object of the game was to volley a ball back and forth over a net.

Morgan studied at the Springfield College of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he met James Naismith.

Naismith, in 1891, had recently invented the game of basketball. During the summer of 1895, Morgan moved to the YMCA at Holyoke where he became Director of Physical Education.

In this role, Morgan had the opportunity to direct a vast program of exercises and sport classes for male adults. His leadership was eagerly accepted, and his classes grew in large numbers. He came to realize he needed a different type of competitive recreational game in order to vary his physical fitness program.

Basketball, which sport was beginning to develop, seemed to suit young people, but it was necessary to find a less violent and less intense alternative for the older members.

Morgan took some of the characteristics from tennis and handball along with basketball. Morgan liked the game of tennis, but tennis required rackets, balls, a net.

He didn’t like all the equipment, but he did like the idea of a net.

Morgan invented volleyball, which was originally called Mintonette. Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport. Mintonette was less rough than basketball for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring some athletic ability.

The first rules required for a net to be 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 meters) high, a 25 × 50 foot (7.6 × 15.2 meter) court. Each team could have as many players as a team wanted.

A match was nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning. There was no limit to the number of ball contacts for each team before sending the ball to the other side of the court.

In case of a miss serve, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was a fault, with loss of the point or a side-out, except in the case of a first serve attempt.

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