History and Rules

Volleyball

	Volleyball, which is celebrating its 111^th anniversary this year, has developed from a backyard game into a very popular worldwide sport. Competitive volleyball is played with a series of carefully planned out system of offensive and defensive plays.

Volleyball was invented by a man named William G. Morgan. Morgan had originally created mignonette, which is what the game was originally called, as a sport for adults. He created mignonette because many adults loved the game of basketball because of its competition and teamwork, but thought basketball was too rough. So Morgan wanted to make a new game that was more suitable for adults. He strung up tennis net between two poles, and used a light rubber ball to play. The rubber ball was light so it wouldn’t be difficult for older people to play.

	The main rule of mignonette was never to let the ball hit the ground. Of coarse, most of the rules that we play by today came later. The game of mignonette became a fast hit with the older people. One of the games fans, Dr. Alfred Halstead, insisted the name to be changed to volleyball because every play was a volley.
			The new name, volleyball, and the game quickly caught on at the YMCA. Many adults started playing volleyball to build teamwork with their colleagues and during lunch hours. In Europe, the game became quite popular with the soldiers, who played the game in their free time. Then, in 1964, volleyball became an Olympic sport.
	Volleyball became an instant hit because it was very versatile. People could play volleyball in lots of places because it didn’t require much space or equipment. None, of the equipment is very complicated or expensive. Volleyball was a great game for adults, and also provides enough entertainment for younger people.
			Now, the object of volleyball is to score 25 points in each match, but you must win by two. In every game you play three to five matches. To win you must win three out of five matches. Tie breaker matches are played to fifteen.