Volleyball is the second most popular sport in the world. From its beginnings in the United States in 1895, volleyball has spread to every corner of the world and the number of players is nearing one billion. No one knows exactly why volleyball has such a huge following outside the United States but one thing is for certain: in the over 100 years of its existence, volleyball has gone through some dramatic changes. Changes made for the love of volleyball and its expansion as a popular sport.
Volleyball, first known as mintonette, found its beginning in 1895. William G. Morgan, an instructor at a Young Men's Christian Association, developed a sport for young businessmen to keep in shape yet not be as physically demanding as another new sport, basketball. It was first played with a tennis net raised to a height of 6 and 1/2 feet off the floor and combined many of the rules of baseball, tennis, handball and basketball. Can you believe that during the birth of volleyball, the teams could have any number of players, each game was played for nine endings, there was no limit to the number of hits on each side? There were quite a few crazy rules. This quickly changed as the sport gained in popularity. In 1890 the first ball designed for volleyball emerged and the net was raised a foot. In fact it was not until 1916 that through a series of rule changes, that a rule set that resembles today's emerged.
It was also in 1916 that we saw one of the most exciting aspects of the game emerge, the spike. The spike, or overhand attack, was developed in the Philippines and brought about a radical new change to the game, offense. The Philippines developed an offensive strategy that propelled a ball on a high trajectory (set) for which another player would jump and strike the ball down (spike).
Riding on this new offensive excitement, soon volleyball became popular and tournaments were organized in YMCAs around the country. It was under the brand new association, United States Volleyball League (now known as USAV) in 1928, that the field was opened to non-YMCA teams as the first U.S. Open was played. It took nine years for the USAV to grow and become the official national governing body in the United States in 1937. Volleyball spread around the world and soon another world governing body, the Federation for International Volleyball (FIVB) was established ten years later in 1947.
Volleyball required gym space; however, it was not long before volleyball fans adapted the sport as a pastime on the beaches of California. In fact it was only one year later, in 1948, that the first two man beach tournament was held. Beach volleyball has grown today in popularity today that rivals its indoor counterpart. While there has never been a successful professional indoor volleyball tour in the U.S., in 1983, the U.S. saw its first professional beach volleyball league, the Association of Volleyball Professionals. Beach volleyball gained its highest moment when it was added as an official sport in the 1996 Olympics.
Volleyball is a sport in transition. With the strive for television time, sponsorship money and expansion, millions of players, fans or coaches are each doing all they can for the love of the volleyball.