______________V O L L E Y B A L L


In 1895, William G. Morgan, an instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Mass., decided to blend elements of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball to create a game for his classes of businessmen which would demand less physical contact than basketball. He created the game of Volleyball (at that time called mintonette). Morgan borrowed the net from tennis, and raised it 6 feet 6 inches above the floor, just above the average man's head.
During a demonstration game, someone remarked to Morgan that the players seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth over the net, and perhaps "volleyball" would be a more descriptive name for the sport. On July 7, 1896 at Springfield College the first game of "volleyball" was played.

Volleyball is an olympic team sport in which two teams of six active players, separated by a high net, each try to score points against one another by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules

______________________T H E R U L E S

The rules of the volleyball are extensive, but in general, play proceeds as follows:

Each team consists of six players

Points are scored by grounding the ball on the opponents' court, or when the opponent commits a fault.

The first team to reach 25 points wins the set and the first team to win three sets wins the match.

Teams can contact the ball no more than three times before the ball crosses the net, and consecutive contacts must be made by different players.

The ball is usually played with the hands or arms, but players can legally strike or push (short contact) the ball with any part of the body.

________________THE COURT

The game is played on a volleyball court 18 meters long and 9 meters wide, divided into two 9×9 m² halves by a one-meter wide net placed so that the top of the net is 2.43 meters above the center of the court for men's competition, and 2.24 meters for women's competition (these heights are varied for veterans and junior competitions). IN the second picture are shown the volleyball rotation