The Revolution of Voleyball

William G. Morgan

                The game of Volleyball was invented in 1895 by a man named William G. Morgan, he originally called it Mintonette. He was inspired by the creator of basketball, James Naismith, they met while Morgan was studying at the Springfield College of the YMCA. In the summer of 1895 Morgan moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts to continue working for the YMCA, as the director of physical education. As he examined men play basketball he observed that the older or weaker men had a disadvantage, and wanted to create a less intense, but still athletic sport for them. He used some rules from basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball.
                Of course he had to have some guidelines for this sport. Morgans first priority was to figure out how big the court and net had to be. He ultimately settled on having a six-foot, six-inch net and a 30 ft. x 60 ft. court. The next step was to find the perfect ball. So he tested all of the balls that were available at the time, but he couldn't find one that felt just right. He decided that his best recourse was to ask help from A.G. spalding & bros., who created the perfect ball. They made a ball that was covered in leather, with the circumference of 25-27 inches. Now for the last step, presentation.
                Morgan gathered a group of ten men, five for each side of the net. The first demonstration of Mintonette was to the his fellow Physical Directors at the YMCA in Springfield, 1896. One of his colleges Dr. Gulick enjoyed his game so much, he asked him to present it to the schools new stadium. He demonstrated his game again in front of the conference delegates in the East Gymnasiums of Springfield College. One of the delegates, Professor Alfred T. Halsted, unquestionably loved Mintonette, but felt that it needed a different name. He suggested that a more suitable name would be volleyball, after all the core purpose of the sport is to volley the ball across the net. The game soon began to spread around the world. New rules were made such as, the maximum hits per side is three, and spalding created a new ball that was only for volleyball. In 1964, at the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, was where Volleyball was introduced to the Olympics. 
                Playing volleyball has taught me how to bump, set and spike, but more importantly it has taught me the importance of communication, teamwork, trust, determination and resilience. It has taught me to be aware of the people around me and work together with them, it has taught me these important life skills in a way that no class, no teacher, and no textbook could. I have become a better person because of this sport. When I am on the court playing volleyball, it takes me away from all the stress of school and home, i'm just having fun playing a sport that I love.
William G. Morgan effected the lives of so many with this sport over the years it has been around. Even though it has become more competitive, it still allows for people of all ages and sizes to participate. Morgan died on December 27, 1942, but something that still remains true is that, "his game brought richer life to millions of people throughout the world".

Sources/pic credits:

Volleyball hall of fame
http://www.volleyhall.org/william-g-morgan.html

History of volleyball
http://volleyball.isport.com/volleyball-guides/history-of-volleyball

Volleyball Training ground
http://www.volleyball-training-ground.com/spalding-volleyballs.html

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Morgan

Odyssey
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/what-volleyball-taught-life