Volleyball
Volleyball sport has come a long way since it
started in 1900. This sport has gained much popularity in its first 100 years
up till 1995. After football, volleyball is considered the next most played
sport followed by a huge number of people across the world. The sport has start
of two centuries and the dawn of the new millennium. First county played
volleyball was US. The volleyball now is of the most popular sports in Brazil, and
most of Europe, especially Italy, the Netherlands and Serbia, as well as Russia
and some countries in Asia. Volleyball is now considering one of the five biggest
sports in the world. It has the largest international sporting federation
called FIVB which has 220 affiliated national federations under it. FIVB was
founded in 1947, the first world championship for men was held in 1949, while
the first world championship for women was in 1952.
Also it is one of
those few sports which gained exponential growth in the last decade with some
great volleyball events of world competition.. With these successful sporting
events, beach volleyball is also making its place and the viewership is
increasing every day. The successful volleyball events conducted by FIVB have
made volleyball a never ending sport due to its wide reach and exposure.
History
of Volleyball
William G. Morgan
(1870-1942), a US national was born in New York and is known as the inventor of
the game volleyball. Originally, he named volleyball as “Mintonette”. Morgan
was a physical instructor at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).. He
thought he should come up with an interesting type of recreational that required
to be designed in a way that would demand less physical contact as compared to
basketball. It was same time when the game of basketball was also beginning to
develop which was becoming popular among young men. Morgan had to invent such
an activity which was less violent, intense and along with younger men, older
men can also take part in it actively.
Morgan started working
on inventing a sporting activity and was of the objective that the sport should
require least equipment. According to Morgan, as he said once, he was inspired
by tennis but it required a ball, rackets, net and other equipment so he ruled
out that option. He had to come up with something simple. As a result of his own sports training
methods and his practice experience in the YMCA gym, he thought to blend the
elements of basketball, baseball, tennis and handball. He thought to use the
net and placed it at a height of 6 feet above the ground and finally came up
with an idea of a sport in which only a ball was to be used. The sport is now
commonly known as volleyball. He asked a firm named A.G. Spalding Bros. to
prepare the ball which was leather covered with a rubber inner tube. The ball
was not more than 280 g with a circumference less than 67 cm.
Morgan’s and his friends Frank Wood and John Lynch set the basic concepts and
rules of the sport “Mintonette”. Morgan explained the rules to the conference
of YMCA directors.
The first laws of the sport that Morgan’s putted
were that two teams divided by a net, Each of the team can only play with six
players on court. A team can touch the ball three times on its side of the net.
Also the players cannot catch the ball. As well if the players touching the net
while attempting to play the ball, or a player penetrating under the net into
the opponent's court, it will score point for opponent's team. The concept of
the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the
opponent's court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent.
In 1964, the sport was officially included in Summer
Olympics. The Olympics also set some of new rule. Such as, Matches are played in
five sets. The team who win the first two sets will win the game. In 1998, the
FIVB introduced a new player with specialist role called the libero. This
player must wear a different colored uniform from the rest of the team and can
only be substituted in backcourt for any player on the team. The libero cannot
send the ball over the net, but plays a vital role for the team in serve
reception and backcourt defiance.
Volleyball
in UAE
Volleyball Is one of
the most popular world sports in UAE. there have been a lot sporting events
recently in which volleyball was prominent. These events are creating more and
more presence of volleyball sport among UAE citizens. United Arab Emirates
volleyball association was founded in 1975. UAE men team located in the ranking
75 in FIVB and 6 in AVA (The Arab Volleyball Association). In 2013, UAE hosted
a volleyball tournament in Dubai where most of the Asian teams participated
including Korea, Iran and China. These events are broad that volleyball sport
is getting promoted in UAE. Government as well as private sector including
hotel and tourism industry is taking keen interest to facilitate this sport
within UAE.
History of
Volleyball » NCVA. (n.d.). NCVA RSS2. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from
http://www.ncva.com/history-of-volleyball/
Schmitting, N.
(n.d.). What Is a Volleyball Libero?. About.com. Retrieved June 9, 2014,
from http://video.about.com/volleyball/What-Is-a-Volleyball-Libero-.htm
Volleyball.
(2014, July 6). Wikipedia. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball
