Who Invented the Sport Volleyball?

Who invented the sport volleyball? Perhaps you think that volleyball, like some other sports, dates back to ancient times. Well, that is not the case. In fact, volleyball is one of the more modern sports.

Mr. William G. Morgan invented volleyball. Morgan was born in New York in 1870. It would be 25 years until he invented the great game of volleyball that we now know and love. Now we know who to thank, when we are feeling appreciative for this sport which provides us with energy, exercise, companionship, and fun times with our friends.

Invention of Volleyball

When it was time to go to college, Morgan chose to attend the Springfield College of the Young Men's Christian Association in Massachusetts. It was there that he met James Naismith, who had invented basketball in 1891. At least partially through his connections, Morgan was able to move to the Young Men's Christian Association at Holyoke in 1895. There he became the Director of Physical Education. He was in charge of creating physical fitness programs and classes for the young men at the college.

However, he was not feeling all that fulfilled with the selection of programs he had put together. While he loved the field of sports, he felt that it needed to expand more to fully encapsulate the athletic needs of the student body. He also loved basketball, yet he felt that it was at times too violent for some of the older individuals, as well as those individuals who wanted a more recreational sport.

Morgan combined elements of basketball, tennis, and handball and invented volleyball. However, when he first invented the game in 1895, it was known as Mintonette. Lately on he decided to change the name to volleyball, since that is clearly the purpose of the game: to volley the ball over the net.

Morgan's Rules

Along with the creation of any sport must come rules. Morgan developed his own set of rules for his game of Mintonette. Some of them are still in existence. However, some leagues do vary their rules depending on a number of factors. Here are the original rules as Morgan developed them.

• The net had to be 6 feet, 6 inches high.
• The court had to be 25 by 50 feet.
• The number of players was unlimited. Each team could have as many players as they wanted. This is certainly one rule that has evolved and changed significantly since its inception.
• A match was broken up into nine innings. In each inning, each team got three serves.
• You could hit the ball as many times as you wanted before you sent it back over the net to the other side.
• If you missed at your first attempt at a serve, you could have a second try