History Of Volleyball

If you would take a look at the sport of volleyball in all its grandeur, you cannot help but think that this game has been in the circuit for years and years now. But this is not the case at all. This is because the game of volleyball is still, in fact, pretty young. And this is something that can be supported by a discussion on volleyball history.

Delving a bit into the history of volleyball, you would surely come across the name William G. Morgan. Morgan is actually the creator of the game itself. And it was in 1895 that the first ever game made its way into the history of volleyball. But there’s actually something interesting about this part of the history of volleyball. You see, at that time, Morgan did not really call the game Volleyball. In fact, the game Morgan used was actually Mintonette. Morgan’s intention of creating such a game was actually to develop one that did not require that much physical contact. This was because the game was actually being developed for a group of businessmen at the YMCA chapter in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The purpose of the game was just to provide the businessmen an outlet for the stress they deal with during workweeks.

Thus, the concept of Mintonette was born. Another interesting fact about the history of volleyball is how Morgan took key aspects from several sports that were in existence at the time already. For starters, the concept of the volleyball net is actually taken from the sport of tennis. But Morgan modified the use of the net, by raising it to a height that was above the heads of the men of average height. The height at which the net was hoisted at first was actually 6 feet and 6 inches. And it was not just from tennis that Morgan borrowed aspects at all. Morgan actually borrowed aspects from the following sports: baseball, handball, and basketball. When the first batch of demonstration games were conducted, some of the spectators actually commented that the game was more focused on volleying the ball from one side of the court to the other. Thus, this is the reason behind the name Volleyball.

Looking deeper into the history on volleyball, you would also come to learn that the first ever-official volleyball game played was at Springfield College. This first game back in 1896 was actually the turning point for the game. The sport quickly took off, gaining popularity among the different colleges nearby. Pretty soon, the sport began taking off into Canada, the Eastern hemisphere, and the Southern hemisphere. And in just a short period of 5 years after the first official game of volleyball, the sport also took off in Cuba. In such a short time, volleyball was able to reach international standards. This could very well be the reason why volleyball has always been thought of as an old sport, not a young one at that.

But it was in 1916 that the game of volleyball evolved into the fast-paced sport it is today. And it was actually in the Philippines that the offensive attacks of the set and the spike were first introduced. Because of the introduction of these offensive attacks, the game play as then modified to incorporate these into the rules of the game itself. At the time, the spike referred by the Filipinos as the bomba. The spiker was then known as the bomberino.

The same year also saw the game being introduced into the collegiate program of the NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The rules of the game were modified accordingly by the NCAA. A year after that, the 15-point system was then implemented, instead of the table tennis’ 21-point system. This was done to make matches shorter.