what is volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport played on a rectangular court divided evenly by a standing net. Two opposing teams, one on each side of the net, use primarily their hands to hit a spherical ball back and forth over an approximate 8 ft (2.4 m) net. The game was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, physical director of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as an indoor sport for businessmen who found basketball too vigorous. The game quickly became known as volleyball after an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896. Volleyball rules were slightly modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various YMCAs. The object of volleyball is to score more points than the opposing team by sending the ball over the net and grounding it inside the opposing teams court before its players are able to hit it back over the net and ground it inside their oppositions court. Volleyball is played in different variations, including indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, and sitting volleyball, which is an adapted version of the game played at the Summer Paralympic Games. Playing volleyball provides a healthy workout for all parts of the body and helps to improve aerobic endurance and cardiovascular fitness.