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Volleyball
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Volleyball is a team sport played with a ball and a net. There are teams on each side of the net. One team hits the ball over the net and into the other team's court, the other team must then hit the ball back over the net and in bounds within three tries without letting the ball touch the ground.
Source: US Navy
Volleyball can be a lot of fun to play. To play with friends you can play with any number of people and most anyone can join in. To be a competitive player takes lot of practice. Good height and jumping ability helps a lot.
History of Volleyball
Volleyball was originally invented by William Morgan in 1895. He was an athletic director at the YMCA and was trying to come up with a game that would be fun, like basketball, but less taxing. Of course the rules have changed some since then, but it quickly became a popular sport at the YMCA. The name volleyball came about when a man named Alfred Halstead noticed how the game had a volleying nature. People started calling it volley ball and the name stuck.
Volleyball was first played as an official Olympic sport in the 1964 Olympics. Japan won the first gold medal in women's volleyball and the USSR won the first gold for men's volleyball.
Volleyball Equipment and Court
An indoor volleyball is typically white, but may have some other colors as well. It's round with 8 or 16 panels and is usually made of leather. The official indoor volleyball is 25.5 -26.5 inches in circumference, weighs 9.2 - 9.9 ounces, and has 4.3-4.6 psi air pressure. A youth volley ball is slightly smaller. Beach volleyballs are slightly bigger, weigh the same, but have much less air pressure.
The volleyball court is 18 meters long and 9 meters wide. It's divided in sides in the middle by the net. The net is 1 meter wide and is set up so that the top of the net is 7 feet 11 5/8 inches above the ground (right around 8 feet). The only other key feature is a line that is drawn on each side 3 meters from the net and parallel to the net. This line is called the attack line. It defines the front row and back row areas.
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Volleyball Player
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