Volleyball is a ball sport played on a court with a format similar to handball, tennis, and badminton in that teams must essentially ground the ball on their opponent's side of the court in order to gain a point or advantage.
📜 Volleyball History
The sport traces its origin to 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts when physical education teacher William G. Morgan invented a game called mintonette. This original form of the game was played by an undefined number of players, on an 8 x 15 metre court, with a net in the middle. After an 1896 exhibition match, the sport started to become popular and the name was changed to volleyball.
Over the years, the rules of volleyball have been honed and it was made into a professional sport. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was founded in 1947. Today, volleyball is a popular sport in many countries around the world and has a huge global audience.
💯 Volleyball Format & Scoring
During a game, a player on one of the teams serves the ball (beginning a rally) from behind the back line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. Teams must not let the ball hit the ground within their court. A team can only touch the ball up to 3 times, but individual players cannot consecutively touch the ball twice. The first 2 touches are often preparing an attack, directing the ball back over the net making it difficult for the opposition to return. Play continues until a team fails to return the ball to the other side of the court and that team loses the rally and the opponents gain the point. The team that wins the rally serves the ball to start the next rally.
Volleyball is played on different surfaces (e.g. indoors, on sand, or on snow) and by both men and women. There are international tournaments, club tournaments, and domestic leagues. Some of the sport’s most popular competitions tend to be international and include the FIVB World Championship, the Olympic Games (with sitting volleyball in the Paralympics), the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, and the Volleyball Nations League.
