Volleyball
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Volleyball Players of 2006 And
2007
The History of Volleyball
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
Now in 2006, the sport of Volleyball is 111 years old!
The sport originated in the United States, and is now just
achieving the type of popularity in the U.S. that it has received on a global
basis, where it ranks behind only soccer among participation sports.
Today there are more than 46 million Americans who play
volleyball. There are 800 million players worldwide who play Volleyball at least
once a week.