VOLLEYBALL HISTORY: DEVELOPMENT AND KEY EVENTS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The history of volleyball begins in the United States at the end of the 19th century. Its creator was William G. Morgan, a sports instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA).

Morgan's object was to develop a sport that mixed the elements of other disciplines (basketball, tennis, handball, among others), in order to create a new discipline that was not so demanding in terms of physical resistance and that reduced physical contact between participants.

The result was volleyball, which was called mintonette at the time. Later, the name changed to volleyball due to the fact that the players “volleyed” the ball from one side of the court to the other.

Shortly after its creation, the sport spread to Asia thanks to the promotion of the Young Christian Association. At the beginning of the 20th century, a special ball was created for the sport. Also, in the first decades of this century the rules of volleyball were perfected and established.

With World War II, American soldiers exported volleyball and this sport spread to European countries. Since then, this discipline has gained popularity, so much so that more than 800 million people play volleyball at least once a week.

The father of volleyball

The creator of volleyball was William G. Morgan. Morgan was born in 1870 in Lockport, New York. In 1891, he entered Mt. Hermon Preparatory School in Northfield, Massachusettes.

In this school he met James A. Naismith, who later would be the creator of basketball. Nainsmith recognized young Morgan's athletic abilities and urged him to continue his education at the Christian Youth Association Training School in Spingfield.

There, he participated in various sports activities, mainly in the soccer group. In 1894, after graduation, Morgan took over as athletic director at the Auburn Maine headquarters of the Young Christian Association. The following year, he took the same position in Holyoke, Massachusettes.

It was in this headquarters of the institution that William Morgan developed the sport that would later be known as volleyball.

Alternative to basketball

By 1895, basketball had already been created and was gaining popularity among the population of the United States. Basketball was a perfect game for children and young people. However, it was very strenuous and vigorous for adults and seniors.

This was the problem faced by William G. Morgan as athletic director for the Holyoke Young Men's Christian Association. Morgan needed an alternative sport that local seniors could play.

He needed a sport that was not very physically demanding and required less physical contact than basketball.

In this way, Morgan decided to create a sport of his own, mixing elements of other sports. He borrowed certain aspects of basketball, tennis, handball, and baseball.

From basketball, he took the ball. For tennis, he took the net that divides the playing area in two. From handball, he took the use of his hands to hit the ball and the possibility of playing in the zone "outside" the court. Finally, from baseball, he took the division of game time into "innings."

The game attracted the attention of the directors of the Young Christian Association and was presented at a conference in 1896.

Sport name

William G. Morgan named his creation "mintonette." However, during the presentation of the game at the 1896 conference, Dr. Alfred Halstead of the University of Springfield made a comment that would change the name of the sport.

Dr. Halstead noted that the players appeared to be volleying the ball from one side of the court to the other. The name volley ball turned out to be more appropriate than mintonette and Morgan took it. Later, the term would be united in a single word volleyball.

In Spanish, the term volleyball is a naturalized loan, because it is a word that comes from English and has been adapted to make the pronunciation more Spanish.

Rules of the game established by William Morgan

1-About the game: The game consists of nine innings.

2-About the innings: The duration of each inning depends on the number of players on each side of the court.

- When there is one person playing at each end, the inning will be made up of one serve from each side.

- When there are two people playing at each end, the inning will be made up of two serves from each side, and so on.

The man serving will continue to serve until his side makes a mistake in returning the ball.

3-On the court: The court will measure 7, 625 meters wide and 15, 25 meters long. The length of the court will be divided exactly in half by a net.

At 1.22 meters from the net, there is the dribble line. There must be a dribble line on each side of the court; these two lines are parallel.

The measures of the court can be adapted for reasons of space availability.

4-Over the net: The net must be at least 0.6 m wide and 8.2 meters long. This net must be suspended on posts placed on each side of the court, which must be 0.3 m from the outside line of the playing area.

Between the top of the net and the floor there must be at least 2 meters of distance.

5-On the ball: The ball must be made of rubber covered with leather or canvas. It should be no less than 63cm and no more than 68cm in diameter. It must weigh no less than 255 grams and no more than 340 grams.

6-About the server and the service: The game begins with a service, also called serve. The server must stand with one foot behind the end line of the court.

The player must throw the ball into the air with one hand at a height of not less than 3 meters. When the ball is descending, the player must hit the ball and make it pass over the net into the opponent's court.

The server has two chances to cash out. This has a single exception:

If a serve is about to touch the net, another player on the team can hit the ball and send it to the opposing team's court.

If the movement is satisfactory, the game continues. However, if the player sends the ball out of bounds, the service cannot be retaken and it will be the other team's turn.

7-On scoring: The game that is not returned by the receiving side counts as a point for the side that serves each effective service or ball.

If the ball hits the net on the first service, it is considered void. If he hits the net on the second try, it's a point for the opposing team.

8-On the blows in the net

If the ball hits the net, it is considered a miss and the opposing team wins a point. The exception is when the ball hits the net on the first serve, which is considered void.

9-On the lines of the court and the ball

If the ball hits the outside line of the court, it is considered outside the playing area.

10-About the game and the players

The number of players may vary according to space availability. Ideally, each player is separated from the other by a distance of 3 meters.

If a player touches the net during play, play is stopped and the opposing team scores a point. If a player catches the ball, play is stopped and the opposing team wins a point.

These rules were refined over time thanks to the contributions of other athletes. For example, the Filipinos changed the concept of "innings" to the concept of "sets" in 1916.

In 1917, it was changed from 21 to 15 points to win the match.

Also, in 1918, it was declared standard for teams to consist of six participants.

In 1920, a new rule was created stating that one side could hit the ball only three times before passing it to the other side of the court. If one group touched the ball more than three times, then the play was stopped and the opposing group scored a point.

Volleyball expansion

Volleyball started out as a minor sport in Massachusetts. However, soon after, it expanded throughout the United States thanks to the Young Christian Association.

In 1900, volleyball was adopted in Canada, this being the first foreign territory in which this sport was practiced. In 1905 he arrived in Cuba.

Subsequently, the sport became popular on the Asian continent: in China and Japan it began to be practiced in 1908, and in the Philippines in 1910.

In 1909, the game became popular in Puerto Rico and in 1912 it began to be played in Uruguay.

The position of volleyball was consolidated in the different countries thanks to the national championships. In the United States, the Young Christian Association prepared interstate competitions.

For Asia, volleyball was included in the program of the Far East Games. In Eastern Europe national competitions were also organized.

In this way, volleyball went from being the recreational activity that William Morgan had created and began to be a competitive sport.

In 1928 it became clear that tournaments in this sport were a common practice, so they had to be regulated. For this, the United States Volleyball Association was created.

With this organization, the first volleyball championship was developed that was open to players not belonging to the Young Christian Association. In this way, the game spread to other sectors of the population.

Important dates in volleyball history

In 1900, a special ball was designed to practice this sport that, until then, had been played with a basketball.

In 1916, volleyball was included in schools in the United States as part of physical education programs and extracurricular activities.

On April 18, 1947, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was founded in Paris, France. It is an organism that is in charge of regulating everything related to volleyball around the world, from the rules to the development of championships

In 1948, the first beach volleyball tournament in pairs was held. In 1949, the first volleyball world championship was held in Prague Czechoslovakia.

By 1951, volleyball had spread to more than 60 countries and was played by more than 50 million people.

In 1955, the Pan American games included volleyball within the disciplines of the program.

In 1957, the International Committee for the Olympic Games declared volleyball to be an Olympic group game. It was established that it would be included in the 1964 Olympic Games.

In 1959, the International University Sports Federation organized the first University Games tournament in Turin, Italy. Volleyball was one of the eight disciplines that were included in these games.

In 1964, this sport was played for the first time at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The ball used was made of rubber and leather. The balls used in subsequent competitions should be the same as this.

In 1987, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), having recognized beach volleyball as a discipline, created the Beach Volleyball World Championship.

By 1994, the first volleyball website was created: Volleyball World Wide.

In 1996, beach volleyball was included in the Olympic Games, with groups consisting of two people.

References

1. History of Volleyball. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from wikipedia.org
2. Volleyball history. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from fivb.org
3. History of Volleyball. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from ncva.com
4. History of Volleyball. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from volleyballadvisors.com
5. Volleyball: a brief history. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from olympic.org
6. Volleyball History. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from strength-and-power-for-volleyball.com
7. William G. Morgan. Retrieved on August 9, 2017, from volleyhall.com.