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Volleyball is the world's second most popular sport, after soccer. The game was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was originally called “mintonette.” The name “volleyball” was coined by Alfred Halstead, who observed the first YMCA exhibition match in 1896. It was spelled “volley ball,” two words, to begin with. The game of basketball was invented only four years earlier and just ten miles away in Springfield. The original rules of the game allowed unlimited numbers of players on each side and did not limit the number of hits per side before the ball crossed the net. Today, teams consist of six players and only three hits of the ball may be made by a team's players before it is sent over the net. A failed serve could be re-attempted once, another difference from modern rules. In 1919, the U.S. military distributed approximately 16,000 volleyballs to American troops in France. You are reading volleyball facts. The first appearance of volleyball at the Olympics was in the form of an exhibition put on by Americans at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. The sport was not played as part of the Olympic competition itself until 1964. Olympic volleyball was dominated by players from Eastern Europe thereafter until 1984, when the Soviet boycotted that year's Summer Olympics and the gold and silver medals were taken by the U.S. and Brazil, respectively. You are reading volleyball facts. Those countries remained strong contenders in later years. The official volleyball court is 18 meters long by 9 meters wide. Each team plays on a 9 meter by 9 meter side. The net is set up at the line between the two sides so that the top of the net rises to 2.43 meters for men's and 2.24 meters for women's games. Before 1999, points were scored only by a team that had the serve. After 1999, the rules were changed so that an error (allowing the ball to touch the court in bounds, or hitting the ball out of bounds) always resulted in a point scored. Before 2000, a serve that touched the net was an error. Today, a serve that touches the net is still a good serve if the ball goes on over the net into the other side of the court. In 1988, Eugene Selznyk and Flo Hyman became the first male and female player, respectively, to make the Volleyball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where the game was invented. |
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