Volleyball tops the list when it comes to fun with full of strength, action, and passion. With time Volleyball has been flexible enough so the volley lovers can enjoy it in their respective zones. In today’s era, you can find this game dividing into beach, indoor, outdoor Volleyball. However, the History of Volleyball is evenly interested in its modern deviations. Let have a brief look at the History of Volleyball.
History of Volleyball
Mintonette is the birth name of today’s Volleyball. In 1895, William G. Morgan decided to experiment with mingling court games like basketball, tennis, hand, and baseball. And amazingly unexceptional sports came into being! What we now called as Volleyball.
However, this name was an actual result of the keen observation of a professor from Springfield College. He admired the volleying nature of the game and thus named it as Volleyball. He held the rank of physical director in Young Men’s Christian Association YMCA.
But what compelled Morgan to invent a court game when there were already a lot? Morgan’s sole purpose was to create a game less vigorous than actual basketball for business people. Less vigorous but still as engaging and full of energy as basketball. And he completed his mission by inventing Mintonette. Morgan proved himself why he held the high rank of physical director in Young Men’s Christian Association YMCA.
The first Volleyball was played on 7th July 1896 in Massachusetts at the same Springfield College, whose professor was one to name it smartly.
Amendments in Volleyball
This young game was in its development age. Hence, it needs a lot of care and grooming to make its survival and existence possible. Volleyball was new, and many further experiments and amendments were to be made.
In 1900, Volleyball was felt crucial enough to consider its own specific equipment. Therefore, it was time to explicitly design a ball for playing volley according to its nature. And finally, in 1900, a ball volley specific ball was designed.
In the beginning, players used a tennis court net of 6’6 ″ height to divide court. Time to add a fact! Americans of the 19th century were of short height. Therefore, the tennis net worked for that time.
But as Volleyball started to spread its root, an appropriate standardized net was needed to play the game. Recently, for men, the volleyball net’s height is 2.43 meters, whereas, for females, it is 2.24 meters.
As time passes, people other than the United States also contributed to spiking the game’s volleying nature. In 1916 Philippines introduced interesting attacking strategies such as spiking and setting. These strategies are still the triggering strategies of offensive mode.
In the beginning, Volleyball was of 21 points. This drained the energy of players and the interest of spectators. The solution to this problem was to reduce the points of the set. Thus, it reduced to 15 points set from 21 points. This 15 point rule is still applied in the final set of matches.
Back in the 1920s, Volleyball did not have any defined number of players. Teams with nine players were also considered eligible to play. But some Volleyball obsessive in California set rule to stick with six players each team. Moreover, the same year back row rule and three hits each side rule was also executed.
In 1998 FIVB introduced a new rule. Volleyball is the only game to have one player with an odd color team shirt. He can be easily altered with any of its backcourt players. This rule proves to be the real engine of backcourt defensive strategy.
Backbones of Volleyball
Like any sports game, Volleyball was also needed for concrete support for defining proper rules, regulations, and tournaments in a definite pattern.
Therefore in 1928, an official association was formed to set appropriate standards for the game. United States Volleyball Association was then formed for orienting the game volley with standards.
Besides this, In 1947 April, one exceptional day, representatives from 14 different countries place the brick of Fédération Internationale de Volley Ball (FIVB) in Paris. And from this day, it becomes the most extensive international platform of Volleyball.
Currently, it’s headquarter resides in Mexico. However, its former location remains Paris of starting 37 years.
FIVB Volleyball World Championship
FIVB has the honor to conduct Volleyball World Championship for men and women both. The championship followed the cycle of 4 years till the year of 1964. From 1965, FIVB alters a 4-year policy with two years and officially named this international competition as Volleyball World Championship.
There needs to 12 teams in FIVB. These teams are then divided into two pools, each of 6 teams. In the final, the team needs to win 11 matches. But in case of a tie, FIVB applies three tiebreakers rule.
These tiebreakers are based on set quotient. It follows the formula of observing the ration of the number of sets won and lost. The one who exceeds the winning set owned the World Championship title.
FIVB Volleyball World Championship Highlights.
FIVB conducted first-ever Volleyball World Championship Men in 1947. The match was between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. However, the Soviet Union made History to be the first-ever winner in World’s first Volleyball championship.
From this time, the Soviet Union has remained in the limelight. At the same time, Brazil seconds the Soviet Union in Volleyball World Championship.
In 1952, FIVB conducted Women Volleyball World Championship. This time, the Soviet Union again proved itself the conqueror of Volleyball and won the championship title on its motherland, defeating Poland.
Russia will host the upcoming World Championship for men, whereas Poland and Netherland will be honored to host women’s championship.
Conclusion
Volleyball being a non-contact sport, demands more physical energy than any other non-contact sports. It is a game of passion, enthusiasm, techniques, and strategies. Volleyball is suitable regardless of the ground type. You can enjoy Volleyball indoor, on the grass and even on the beach.
The plus point of this game is it is suitable for almost all age groups. It just needs a simplification of rules and regulations, and it will be a perfect fit for engaging yourself and peers in the sportiest way. All you need is a handy volleyball.
