5 things you didn’t know about volleyball
The former legendary American volleyball player and head coach Marv Dunphy once said, “Volleyball is a game of intuition. Imagination. Improvisation. But most of all, of reciprocity and teamwork.” Those of you who play volleyball and enjoy the game knows how true Dunphy was.
Played in professional levels but most loved as a school sport, volleyball has come a long way. For the unversed, this game is played on a rectangular court between two teams comprising of two to six players and involves striking a ball back and forth over a net. Here are some of the lesser-known, yet interesting facts about the game.
Originally called mintonette
Yes, that is correct! Volleyball’s birthname was not volleyball but mintonette. In fact, the inventor of the game William George Morgan (a physical educator at Young Men’s Christian Association, a sports complex in Massachusetts, US) was inspired by ‘minton’ from badminton. Realising that the name didn’t have an impact, Morgan’s friend Alfred S. Halstead, a professor at Massachusetts’ Springfield College and a huge connoisseur of the game, renamed it to volleyball in 1952. Why? Because he felt that the ball constantly volleyed back and forth over the net.
Meant to be a game free of running
When Morgan invented volleyball in 1895, he wanted to make a new game that would be a blend of basketball and badminton but with a twist. He wanted to make it less challenging and rough for youngsters and the elderlies. Another intention was to play the game indoors. Moreover, he also wanted to ensure that the players need not run during the game, as it was meant for all age groups. This meant that all physical actions were allowed barring direct contact with the opposing players. It was later in the 1920s that beach volleyball was introduced by surfers who couldn’t surf due to bad weather and instead chose to play the ball by hanging a net on the beach in California.
A shot was inspired by King Kong
There’s hardly anyone who doesn’t know of King Kong, the fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla who has been part of the pop culture ever since the 1930s. Now, when volleyball was slowly gaining popularity during the mid-1950s, its special one-handed block move was given the name of Kong. Sources suggest that it was the doing of the King Kong creators who had once gone to watch the game live and felt that the move resembled King Kong swatting at planes singlehandedly while balancing himself on the high-rise buildings such as the Empire State Building.
The most famous volleyball personality is a coach, not a player
A volleyball is a popular professional game played across the world, especially in North American countries like the USA and Canada. Now, in the course of history, many players, both male and female have emerged as volleyball stars. However, no one has been as famous and as successful as Bernardo Rocha de Rezende from Brazil. What’s striking here is that, he is not a player and has never been one. But he knows the best about all things volleyball and has even achieved more feats that anyone else in the game. Okay, so who is he? Well, he is a coach with more than 900 titles to his name in a vibrant career that had spanned for two decades. In fact, he has coached both men’s and women’s Brazilian teams to Olympics victory. However, what’s most interesting is that, it was during his coaching days in UCLA, Bruins that he earned the maximum winning titles, much ahead of his professional career.
There’s an exception to the rule of touching the net
Most people who are familiar with the rules of the game know that it is forbidden to touch the net of volleyball. In fact, in case a player does so, he or she is penalised and the team loses a point, while the opponent gains it. But guess what? There’s an exception to this rule. On both sides of the net there are white bands beyond which a portion of the net continues. Now, if a player touches this little piece of net, there is as such no issue. Do you know the purpose of these bands? To retain a better visibility and shape of the net.