Surprisingly, one of the most beloved sports in the world is also relatively young. Despite the game’s youth, it has gone through a variety of changes and development as part of its rich history.
Believe it or not, but at one time there were no women’s volleyball shoes from Asics, Nike, or even volleyball uniforms for sale anywhere, let alone on the Internet!
To understand and appreciate how much the game has changed and how much effort has gone into making it a success, you need to look back at the origin of the game of volleyball, examining when and why changes were made.
Just over 100 years ago, in 1895, William G. Morgan developed the first game of volleyball. At the time, Morgan called the game “Mentonet”. Businessmen’s “Mintonette” was created as a game involving less physical contact at the YMCA chapter where he worked in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Morgan borrowed aspects from several games to create his own. The first aspect was from tennis, the net metaphor. Instead of the standard net, he raised it to 6 feet 6 inches, so it was over the heads of ordinary men. Other sports he borrowed from were basketball, baseball and handball. During a demonstration game of the sport, a spectator commented that the game was about volleyball, and the name of the game was changed to volleyball.
And this was just the beginning.
In 1896, the first official volleyball game was played at Springfield College. This game marked the sport’s first real kick-off, and led to more games being played at a variety of different colleges. In 1900, volleyball had taken off enough that a special ball was designed just for the game. Another achievement was accomplished in 1900, which was that the YMCA brought the sport from America to Canada, the East, and the Southern Hemisphere. Five years later, volleyball also spread to Cuba. This spread marked the beginning of the volleyball era. Unlike most sports, volleyball moved to the international level in its early days, allowing the game to evolve to cater to players all over the world.
In 1907, volleyball received its first recognition as one of the most popular sports in the Playground Conference of America. This was the first recognition the sport received, and helped increase its popularity. In the next ten years, the YMCA continued to popularize the sport in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay. In 1913, the first official volleyball competition was held at the Far Eastern Games.
The year 1916 saw the first real development of volleyball. In the Philippines, the offensive pass and spike combination was introduced, and the gameplay was changed to include this new format. The Filipinos developed “bomba”, meaning to kill, and called the hitter “bomberino”. That same year, the NCAA was called upon by the YMCA to be a game-changer, and other colleges and schools were initiated as part of standard physical education courses and boarding programs. A year later, the scoring system was also modified so that the game would end after 15 points instead of 21, which allowed more games to be played in the same amount of time, in an effort to make the sessions a bit shorter for the players.
Three short years later, in 1919, the American Expeditionary Forces donated 16,000 volleyballs to the troops, providing a stimulus for growth in foreign countries. With this rise in the growth of the sport, new rules began to be developed. A year later, the three batters were placed per sideline base and back row offense bases.
By 1928, players and sports fans realized that “official” tournament rules and regulations were required. The American Volleyball Association was formed, and the first US Open Volleyball Championship was held. The US Open allowed teams that were not sanctioned by the YMCA to participate, which was a breakthrough at the time. This development allowed sports fans to fully enjoy the game without having to be associated with the organization that created it.
After 1928, the game of volleyball changed forever. With the “official” rules in place, and a tournament that was not specific to the YMCA, the popularity of the sport was allowed to skyrocket. The US Men’s Open has been held every year thereafter, with the exception of three years. 1943, 1944 and 1989 did not witness annual tournaments due to wars and other obstacles.
In 1934, volleyball saw another major change with the recognition of official referees to oversee matches. This change in particular drastically changed calls and the fairness of the game.
The 1940s held several volleyball special events. Not only was the forearm pass introduced into the game, but the first volleyball world championship match took place. During this time the volleyball movement was bearing fruit, and teams from all over the world were able to figure out the best. This became an annual event, which allowed for more publicity for the sport, which aided its growth. Around this time, more than 50 million people were playing it all over the world, in more than 60 different countries.
By 1964, volleyball had become popular enough to warrant its entry into the Olympic Games. The first Games took place in Tokyo, where a rubber structure with leather panels was used for the ball. This ball has become the one that will be used in most modern competitions. As part of the Olympics, volleyball was allowed to grow even more, even earning a place as the second most played sport in the world.
Despite this high level of popularity, it wasn’t until 1986 that the Women’s Professional Volleyball Association, or WPVA, was formed. With a growing rate of professional interest from both genders, volleyball was finally allowed to reach its full potential for popularity. Primary, middle and high schools, as well as colleges, invested in the game by offering volleyball courses in physical education, so that this sport was known in most families around the world.
While it still lags behind Soccer in popularity, Volleyball has done extremely well in a game with very young roots.