VOLLEYBALL

                    * Volleyball is a team sport (Links to an external site.) in which two teams

of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a
ball on the other team's court under organized rules.

CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY of VOLLEYBALL

* 1895 - in Holyoke, Massachusetts (Links to an external site.) (United States), William
G. Morgan (Links to an external site.), a YMCA (Links to an external site.) physical
education director, created a new game called Mintonette, a name derived from the
game of badminton (Links to an external site.),[5] (Links to an external site.) as a pastime to be played
(preferably) indoors and by any number of players.
                 - Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport, less rough than basketball,
for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring a bit of athletic effort.
* 1896 - Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition
match in 1896, played at the International YMCA Training School (now
called Springfield College (Links to an external site.)), the game quickly became known
as volleyball (it was originally spelled as two words: "volley ball").
* 1900 - The first country outside the United States to adopt volleyball was Canada
* 1916 - in the Philippines, the skill and power of the set and spike had been introduced,
and four years later a "three hits" rule and a rule against hitting from the back row were
established.
 * 1917 - the game was changed from requiring 21 points to win to a smaller 15 points to
win.
*  1918 - Number of players per team set at six.
* 1947 - An international federation, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (Links to
an external site.) (FIVB), was founded .
* 1949 - The first World view Championships were held in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
* 1964 - Volleyball has been part of the Summer Olympics (Links to an external
site.) program for both men and women.
*  1968 - Use of antennae to limit court air space introduced.
*  1994 - Service zone extended to nine meters to facilitate server to serve from any
position of the service zone.
*  1998 - Colored balls introduced to help players focus on ball and help television
viewers locate and follow ball.
*  1998 - The "libero," a specialized defensive player, introduced to improve the "first
pass" and defensive "dig pass." Also helps in replacing back-zone players (principal
attackers) generally weak in defense.
*  1998 - Introduction of 25-point rally point system to sets one to four: Gives more
emphasis for perfection on various skills of the game, otherwise a point is lost and
service is given to opponents.
*  1999 - Service duration is increased to 8 seconds.
*  2008 - New ball introduced for the first time at the Olympic Games with complete new
design, two colors and a complete new panel design. New ball has only 8 panels.
The Volleyball Court

- A volleyball court is 9 m × 18 m (29.5 ft × 59.1 ft), divided into equal square halves by
a net with a width of one meter (39.4 in).

The Volleyball Net 

- The net is 2.43m high for men and 2.24m high for women.
- It is placed vertically over the center line.
- It is 1m wide and 9.5m-10m long and is 10cm square black mesh. The height of
the net is measured from the center of the playing court.
The ball
- FIVB regulations state that the ball must be spherical, made of leather or synthetic
leather, have a circumference of 65–67 cm, a weight of 260–280 g and an inside
pressure of 0.30–0.325 kg/cm2.[18] (Links to an external site.) Other governing bodies have similar
regulations.
Simple Rules in Volleyball ( How the game is played)
- Each team consists of six players
- To get play started, a team is chosen to serve by coin toss (Links to an external site.).
- A player from the serving team throws the ball into the air and attempts to hit the ball
so it passes over the net on a course such that it will land in the opposing team's court
(the serve).
 (Links to an external site.)
-  The opposing team must use a combination of no more than three
contacts with the volleyball to return the ball to the opponent's side of the net.
- The team with possession of the ball that is trying to attack the ball as described is
said to be on offense.
- The team on defense attempts to prevent the attacker from directing the ball into their
court.
- If the ball is hit around, above, or through the block, the defensive players arranged in
the rest of the court attempt to control the ball with a dig (usually a fore-arm pass of a
hard-driven ball). After a successful dig, the team transitions to offense.
- The game continues in this manner, rallying back and forth until the ball touches the
court within the boundaries or until an error is made.
- The most frequent errors that are made are either to fail to return the ball over the net
within the allowed three touches, or to cause the ball to land outside the court.
- A ball is "in" if any part of it touches the inside of a team's court or a sideline or end-
line.

Scoring
- A point is scored when the ball contacts the floor within the court boundaries or when
an error is made: when the ball strikes one team's side of the court, the other team
gains a point; and when an error is made, the team that did not make the error is
awarded a point, in either case paying no regard to whether they served the ball or not.
-  If any part of the ball hits the line, the ball is counted as in the court.
- The team that won the point serves for the next point. If the team that won the point
served in the previous point, the same player serves again.
- If the team that won the point did not serve the previous point, the players of the team
acquiring the serve rotate their position on the court in a clockwise manner.
- The game continues, with the first team to score 25 points by a two-point margin
awarded the set.
- Matches are best-of-five sets and the fifth set, if necessary, is usually played to 15
points. 
 

Libero
- The libero player was introduced internationally in 1998.
- The libero is a player specialized in defensive skills: the libero must wear a contrasting
jersey color from their teammates and cannot serve, block or attack the ball when it is
entirely above net height.
- When the ball is not in play, the libero can replace any back-row player, without prior
notice to the officials. 
- This replacement does not count against the substitution limit each team is allowed
per set.
 

Positions of players in Volleybal

1.    Setter
The setter is the main contributor to the offense of the volleyball team. One of the
requirements of the setter is having a delicate touch to set the ball perfectly for one of
the attacking players. Communication is extremely important for the setter because they
need to get the rest of the players on the same page. Without the setter, there wouldn’t
be hard spikes or technical ball movement.

2.    Outside Hitter
The outside hitter is also known as the left-side hitter and is the lead attacker in the
offensive strategy. To be a successful outsider hitter, you must be able to jump high, be
quick on your feet, and be ready to adapt to different situations. The volleyball won’t
always be placed where the outsider hitter would like, so they need to be prepared for
hits from a variety of places.

3.    Opposite Hitter
Also known as the right-side hitter, these players need to be a perfect balance of both
offense and defense. They will also get many opportunities to hit the volleyball, so
similar to the outside hitter, jumping ability is vital. The main difference that sets the
opposite hitter apart is their defensive responsibility. Being able to receive the serve
from the opposing team is just one of the many requirements of this specialized
position.

4.    Middle Blocker
The middle blocker, sometimes known as the middle hitter, is the tallest player on the
volleyball team. Their main role for the team is being the first line of defense against the
opposing team’s hits. The middle blocker needs to read the other team’s attackers to
quickly raise his or her arms above the net in a blocking attempt. However, this is not a
defense-only position. The middle blocker will have chances for quick points throughout
the set.

5.    Libero
The libero can become confusing for non-volleyball players. They can only play on the
back row of the court, and because of this, are the ideal person to receive a hit from the
opposite team. There are set rules the libero needs to follow, such as not attacking the
ball at the net, playing a set for an attacker from the front, and more. You can always tell
a libero apart from the rest of the team because they wear a different colored jersey.