OVERVIEW

- VOLLEYBALL is a team sport in which two teams of six (6) players are separated by a
net.
FIVB (International Federation of Volleyball)
- Highest governing body of the sport founded in Paris, France in 1947.
- Its headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and its
current president is Ary Graça.

HISTORY OF VOLLEYBALL

WILLIAM G. MORGAN
A physical education director in the YMCA
in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA.

Volleyball, originally called “Mintonette”, was originally invented by William G. Morgan on

February 9, 1895 after the invention of basketball only four years before. He was an athletic
director at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) and was trying to come up with a
game that would be fun like basketball but less taxing. Of course, the rules have changed some
since then, but it quickly became popular sport at the YMCA. The name volleyball came about
when a man named Alfred Halstead noticed how the game had a volleying nature. People started
calling it volleyball and the name stuck.

Volleyball was first played as an official Olympic sport in the 1964 Olympics. Japan won the first
gold medal in women’s volleyball and the USSR won the first gold for men’s volleyball. The first
volleyball net borrowed from tennis was only 6’6” high (though you need to remember that the
average American was shorter in the nineteenth century). The offensive style of setting and spiking
was first demonstrated in the Philippines in 1916. Over the years that followed, it became clear
that standard rules were needed for tournament play and thus the USVBA (United States
Volleyball Association) was formed in 1928.

TRAITS OF THE GAME:

Borrowed from tennis and handball.
THE FIRST RULES (written down by W. G. Morgan)
1. Net - 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) high
2. Court - 25×50 ft (7.6×15.2 m)
3. Players - any number of players.
4. Match - composed of nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning
5. Ball contacts - no limit.
6. Serving error - a second try was allowed.
7. Foul - hitting the ball into the net (with loss of the point or a side-out)—except in the case
of the first try serve.

TIMELINE

February 9, 1895 - William G. Morgan created the game called “Mintonette”

1896 - Dr. Alfred Halstead changed the name of the game to “Volley-ball”
July 7, 1896 - First exhibition game was played in Springfield College.
1900 - Special ball was designed for the sport Volleyball.
1917 - The game was changed from straight 21 to 25 points per set, with interval.
1922 - First YMCA national championships held in Brooklyn, New York.
1928 - USVBA was formed for making the rules of the tournaments clear.
1930’s - First two-man beach volleyball game played in Santa Monica, California
1947 - International Volleyball Federation or FIVB were founded.
September 24, 1957 - Volleyball recognized to become an Olympic Sport.
1964 - Volleyball officially included to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
1983 - Association of Volleyball Professionals was formed.
1986 - Women’s Professional Volleyball Association/ WPVA was formed.

FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

Volleyball Court
- the first equipment required to play volleyball.
• 60 x 30 ft or 18m x 9m
- length of the entire in-play area of the court. Each
side of the court is therefore 30 feet by 30 feet in
size.
• Lines – painted in all white.

Playing Area
- includes the playing court and the free zone
which is a minimum of 3m wide on all sides.
- It shall be rectangular and symmetrical.
Lines on the Court

1. Service Line - the area from which the server may serve the volleyball.

2. Center Line - is marked at the center of the court dividing it equally into
30 feet squares (9m), above which the net is placed.

3. Attack Line - Attack line, whose rear edge is drawn 3ms back from the axis
of the center line marks the front zone.
 4. Boundary Lines - Two sidelines and two end lines mark the playing court.

*** All lines are 5 cm wide. Must be of light color which is different from the color of the floor
and from any other lines.

Ball
• Standards
- Shall be spherical, made out of flexible
leather or synthetic leather case with a
bladder inside, made of rubber or similar
material.
• Colors: Uniform light color or a
combination of colors.

Net and Net Posts

- are positioned 36 feet apart and 3 feet
further out from the sidelines
Zones and Areas

SUBSTITUTION ZONE
- Limited by the extension of both attach lines up to the scorer’s table.

LIBERO REPLACEMENT ZONE

- Part of the free zone on the side of the team benches.
- Limited by the extension of the attack line up to the end line.

Basic Principles

1) Don’t let the ball hit the floor on your side of the net.
- The primary objective in volleyball is make the ball hit the floor on the opponent’s
side of the court, while simultaneously preventing it from dropping on your side.
2) Three contacts/hits per side
- Each team is allowed a maximum of three contacts before it must send the ball back
over the net.
3) Players must rotate clockwise
- In volleyball, six players rotate clockwise through six different positions on their side
of the net. There are three front row positions (left front, middle front, and right front)
and three back row positions (left back, middle back, and right back). Teams rotate
with each new server.
4) No player can hit the ball twice in succession.
5) A player may not cause the ball to come to a rest during contact
6) The net is off-limits

Positions