History of Volleyball

The history of volleyball is a relatively young one that is very similar to a sport that originated near by. Both basketball and volleyball history are said to have begun in Massachusetts with basketball originating in 1891 and volleyball history in 1895.

William Morgan was a coach and director at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts and they needed to devise a game that could be played indoors to combat the cold northeast winters. Basketball had been developed but was much more of a fast paced game. He wanted something more controlled and deliberate. He decided to come up with a game similar to badminton that obviously didn’t use the rackets but incorporated a net. He originally called the sport Mintonette and the court was a rectangular field that hosted several players on each side.

It became apparent that the name would need to be changed as it was obvious that the players were volleying the ball back and forth, hence the name volleyball. They began to cut back on the number of players on each side of the court as well. Originally it was something similar to backyard bbq volleyball where fifteen or twenty people would cram onto a side. So they limited the number to six players per side and determined that rotating the players would give everyone a fair shot at playing up front and back. The other major change that needed to take place was changing the number of hits per side. Initially you could hit it until you were able to get it over. The eventually determined that three hits per side was a fair number. The equipment began to see a drastic makeover as well. The volleyball which was first made by Spalding back in the early 1900’s and they still produce volleyballs today is very similar in shape, size and weight to today’s ball. The final piece of the puzzle was the height of the net. Initially the net was set at whatever the park or gym felt like normally around the average height of the men playing or six feet. It became apparent that that was just too short and not challenging enough. They ended up setting the standard height for men at just below eight feet and woman at seven feet four inches.

As settlers moved west in search of the gold rush the game began to migrate. Players on the west coast of the US began to pick up the sport and it grew. Then different associations began to form and the domestic USVA and the international FIVB took hold of its development.

Then the sport was customary to be played in Grammar School and Universities. Initially started as a men’s sport then went into a period over the mid 1900’s when it was considered a female sport. Today it is simply a great sport that either party can enjoy.

The west coast beach attitude quickly picked up the game of volleyball and decided to apply it to the beach. Beach volleyball was said to have began around the 1940’s in California’s South Bay. Today the development of the AVP, Association of Volleyball Professionals has propelled the sport to a major attraction for both male and female athletes.

Indoor and Beach Volleyball have grown tremendously in the past hundred years. Both have had the chance to excel at the Olympic Games which has produced a number of Gold Medalists for the US. Today the history of volleyball continues to grow as it remains a sport that people of all ages and ability can enjoy from the gym to the beach…So goes the History of Volleyball.