History of Volleyball

None would have imagined that what started as a game for older folks at YMCA, would emerge to be a global phenomena in a short history of about hundred plus years! Yes, volleyball as a game has evolved in various forms and is now the most important game in the United States, only next to basketball. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), the governing body for volleyball game, is the largest international federation in the world.

Early Beginnings
The world witnessed the arrival of volleyball in 1895, only four years after basketball was introduced as a game in the US. Invented by William G. Morgan (1870-1942 ), a graduate from the Springfield College of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), volleyball came into existence as a blended form of various games like basketball, tennis and handball. In the starting, volleyball was named as Mintonette and Morgan conceptualized the idea of volleyball in 1895 while working as an instructor in Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Alfred Halstead, in the year 1896, coined the name Volleyball instead of Mintonette. The first volleyball match was played in Morgan's graduation college on July 7, 1896.

Initial Rules and Regulations
In initial volleyball matches, any number of players were allowed (can you imagine this to be now!) and the court size was 25 feet x 50 foot with a net size of 6 by 6 inches. Every match had 9 innings and 3 serves per team were allowed. In case the serve hit the net, it resulted in a point loss. A new set of rules in the year 1900 was published by A. E. Day. The rules of 25 points was changed to 21 points and net was raised to 7 feet 6 inches.

Global Popularity
Thanks to the efforts of YMCA, volleyball soon spread in many countries. Volleyball was bought to Cuba by an army officer, Agusto York, who participated in Caribbean war, while it was bought to Tokya by Hyozo Omori, a graduate trained in Springfield college. Max Exner and Howard Crokner are still revered by Chinese for bringing volleyball into China. In Manila, the game was introduced by YMCA director Elwood Brown.

Read some more interesting information related to volleyball and its history.

• The set and spike techniques was introduced in Philippines in 1916.
• To form rules and regulations, the United States Volleyball Association (USVBA, now USA Volleyball) was formed in 1928.
• Volleyball referees were recruited officially from 1934 for matches.
• The Federation Internationale De Volley-Ball (FIVB) was formed in 1947.
• The World Championships were held in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1949.
• Volleyball was first introduced as an Olympic sport in the Tokyo Olympics in Japan in 1964.
• The World Championships held in Mexico were telecast to Japan in 1974.
• Formation of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) took place in 1983.
• The first victory for US Men (gold medal) and US Women (silver medal) took place at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
• The Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA) was formed to promote the growth of volleyball amongst women in 1986.
• The second successive Gold Medal by the US Men's Team took place at the Olympics in Korea.
• 100 years of volleyball history was celebrated in 1995.
• Two person beach volleyball was included in the 1996 Olympic sports.

The William G. Morgan Foundation, established in the year 1995 to commemorate the centennial years of volleyball, awards the Morgan Trophy Award to the best collegiate volleyball player in the United States every year. According to sports analysts, nearly 17% of the world population observes/plays volleyball in some or the other form of the game. As a sports, volleyball has become very popular throughout the countries.