Volleyball

Helena Le
The article I read was about William G. Morgan. He is known as father of volleyball. Morgan
invented volleyball as a sport to play after lunch time and work he believed that volleyball was
meant for something important. But little did he know it would become one of the most
important sport.

In the year 1895 William G. Morgan had a problem with volleyball. The newly created game
of basketball was popular with the kids, Morgan wanted to make something for businessmen.
He needed an alternative something these older gentlemen could play, something without too
much "bumping" or "jolting". he said, “It had to be physical playing a game, after work and at
lunch time, should provide exercise, but it also had to relax the participants it couldn't be too
aggressive.” Morgan wanted something fun to play so he just invented it.

He borrowed many things from different sport. From basketball, he took the ball. From
tennis the net. The use of hands and the ability to play off the walls and over hangs, he
borrowed from handball. And, from baseball, he took the concept of innings. It had to be a
sport, Morgan said, "with a strong athletic impulse, but no physical contact." Morgan was a
very creative person.

The game of volleyball was quite a bit different from what we're used to. It was played on a
smaller court, with an unlimited number of players hitting the ball an unlimited number of
times, on either side of the high net. Things tended to get a little crowded. Each game was
broken up into nine innings, each inning made up of three outs, or "serves". These serves could
be helped over the net by a second player, if the server didn't quite reach the net.

The basketball originally used proved to be a little too heavy, and the basketball was too soft.
Morgan contacted a local sporting goods manufacturer who designed a special ball, a rubber
bladder encased in leather. The "volleyball" was made. Though still in its infancy, the sport was
slowly developing and with the YCMA taking the reigns, Morgan was confident volleyball would
continue to entertain and relax the boys and girls down at the "Y". What he probably didn't
realize was that he had just created what would become the second most popular team sport
in the world.
 An indication of the growth of volleyball in the United States is given in an article published
in 1916 in the Spalding Volleyball Guide. In that article the writer estimated that the number of
players had reached a total of 200,000 people subdivided in the following way. In the YMCA
boys, young men, and older men 70,000, in the YWCA girls and women 50,000. In school it
became an educational requirement.

In 1916, the YMCA managed to induce the powerful National Collegiate Athletic Association
it was used to publish its rules and a series of articles, contributing to the rapid growth of
volleyball among young college students. In 1918 the number of players per team was limited
to six, and in 1922 the maximum number of authorized contacts with the ball was fixed at
three.

Until the early 1930s volleyball was for the most part a game of leisure and recreation, and
there were only a few international activities and competitions. There were different rules of
the game in the various parts of the world. However, national championships were played in
many countries (for instance, in Eastern Europe where the level of play had reached a
remarkable standard). Volleyball thus became more of a competitive sport with high physical
and technical performance.

Volleyball became part of every school sports and volleyball is now in the Olympics. All of
this happened because one man wanted to have a game for businessmen to play after work.
Volleyball has witnessed unprecedented growth over the last decade. With the great success of
world competitions such as World Championships. So now that Morgan has invented volleyball
things in sports have been going great for people and history.

In conclusion, when your bored and want to do something fun come up with a random game
because you never know what will happen in the future. Be like William G. Morgan and let your
imagination explore. Morgan never knew that his creation was going to become one of the top
5 sports in U.S. history.

Article: https://www.volleyhall.org/page/show/3821594-history-of-volleyball