VOLLEYBALL

WHAT IS VOLLEYBALL?

Volleyball, game played by two teams, usually of six players on a side, in which the players use their hands to bat a ball back and forth over a high net, trying to make the ball touch the court within the opponents’ playing area before it can be returned. To prevent this a player on the opposing team bats the ball up and toward a teammate before it touches the court surface—that teammate may then volley it back across the net or bat it to a third teammate who volleys it across the net. A team is allowed only three touches of the ball before it must be returned over the net. The complete set of rules is extensive, but play essentially proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times, but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack. An attack is an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the team receiving the ball is unable to pass the ball and continue the rally, thus, losing the point.

HISTORY

Volleyball was originally invented by William Morgan in 1985. He was an athletic director at the YMCA 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 a 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 volley ball 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. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964. Beach Volleyball was introduced to the programme at the Atlanta 1996. The adapted version of volleyball at the Summer Paralympic Games is Sitting Volleyball. 고스톱