In 1895 William G. Morgan,an
instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Mass.,
decided to blend elements of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball to
create a game for his classes of businessmen which would demand less physical
contact than basketball. He created the game of Volleyball (at that time called
mintonette). Morgan borrowed the net from tennis, and raised it 6 feet 6 inches
above the floor, just above the average man's head.
During a demonstration game, someone remarked to Morgan that the players
seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth over the net, and perhaps
"volleyball" would be a more descriptive name for the sport. The first game of volleyball was played on July 7, 1896 at Springfield College
A special ball was designed for the sport in 1990
In 1916, in the Philippines, an offensive style of passing the
ball in a high trajectory to be struck by another player (the set and spike)
were introduced. The Filipinos developed the "bomba" or kill, and called the
hitter a "bomberino".
In 1920, three hits per side and back row attack rules were
instituted.
In 1934, the approval and recognition of national volleyball
referees.
In 1964, Volleyball was introduced to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
In 1995, the sport of Volleyball was 100 years old!
The sport originated in the United States, and is now just achieving the
type of popularity in the U.S. that it has received on a global basis, where it
ranks behind only soccer among participation sports.
Today there are more than 46 million Americans who play volleyball. There
are 800 million players worldwide who play Volleyball at least once a
week.
Link to Northern Michigan University
E. Huron: ehuron@nmu.edu