History of Vollyball

HISTORY OF VOLLEYBALL
• The young Morgan carried out his undergraduate studies at the Springfield College
of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he met James Naismith
who, in 1891, had invented basketball. After graduating, Morgan spent his first year
at the Auburn (Maine) YMCA after which, during the summer of 1895, he moved to
the YMCA at Holyoke (Massachusetts) where he became director of physical
education. In this role he had the opportunity to establish, develop and direct a vast
programme of exercises and sport classes for male adults.
• His leadership was enthusiastically accepted, and his classes grew in numbers. He
came to realize that he needed a certain type of competitive recreational game in
order to vary his programme. Basketball, a sport that was beginning to develop,
seemed to suit young people, but it was necessary to find a less violent and less
intense alternative for the older members.
• The young Morgan carried out his undergraduate studies at the Springfield College
of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he met James Naismith
who, in 1891, had invented basketball. After graduating, Morgan spent his first year
at the Auburn (Maine) YMCA after which, during the summer of 1895, he moved to
the YMCA at Holyoke (Massachusetts) where he became director of physical
education. In this role he had the opportunity to establish, develop and direct a vast
programme of exercises and sport classes for male adults.
• His leadership was enthusiastically accepted, and his classes grew in numbers. He
came to realize that he needed a certain type of competitive recreational game in order
to vary his programme. Basketball, a sport that was beginning to develop, seemed to
suit young people, but it was necessary to find a less violent and less intense
alternative for the older members.
• At that time Morgan knew of no similar game to volleyball which could guide him; he
developed it from his own sports training methods and his practical experience in the
YMCA gymnasium. Describing his first experiments he said:
o "In search of an appropriate game, tennis occurred to me, but this required
rackets, balls, a net and other equipment, so it was eliminated, but the idea of
a net seemed a good one. We raised it to a height of about 6 feet, 6 inches (1.98
meters) from the ground, just above the head of an average man. We needed a
ball and among those we tried was a basketball bladder, but this was too light
and too slow. We therefore tried the basketball itself, which was too big and
too heavy."
• In the end, Morgan asked the firm of A.G. Spalding & Bros. to make a ball, which
they did at their factory near Chicopee, in Massachusetts. The result was
satisfactory: the ball was leather-covered, with a rubber inner tube, its
circumference was not less than 25 and not more than 27 inches (63.5 cm and 68.6
cm, respectively), and its weight not less than 9 and not more than 12 ounces (252 gr
and 336 gr, respectively).
• Morgan asked two of his friends from Holyoke, Dr. Frank Wood and John Lynch, to
draw up (based on his suggestions) the basic concepts of the game together with the
first 10 rules.
• Early in 1896 a conference was organized at the YMCA College in Springfield,

bringing together all the YMCA Directors of Physical Education. Dr. Luther Halsey
Gulick, director of the professional physical education training school (and also
executive director of the department of physical education of the International
Committee of YMCA's) invited Morgan to make a demonstration of his game in the
new college stadium. Morgan took two teams, each made up of five men (and some
loyal fans) to Springfield, where the demonstration was made before the conference
delegates in the east gymnasium. The captain of one of the teams was J.J. Curran
and of the other John Lynch who were respectively, mayor and chief of the fire
brigade of Holyoke.
• Morgan explained that the new game was designed for gymnasia or exercise halls,
but could also be played in open air. An unlimited number of players could
participate, the object of the game being to keep the ball in movement over a high
net, from one side to the other.
• After seeing the demonstration, and hearing the explanation of Morgan, Professor
Alfred T. Halstead called attention to the action, or the act phase, of the ball's flight,
and proposed that the name "Mintonette" be replaced by "Volley Ball." This name
was accepted by Morgan and the conference. (It is interesting to note that the same
name has survived over the years, with one slight alteration: in 1952, the
Administrative Committee of the USVBA voted to spell the name with one word,
"Volleyball", but continued to use USVBA to signify United States Volleyball
Association).
• Morgan explained the rules and worked on them, then gave a hand-written copy to
the conference of YMCA directors of physical education, as a guide for the use and
development of the game. A committee was appointed to study the rules and produce
suggestions for the game's promotion and teaching.
• The physical education directors of the YMCA, encouraged particularly by two

professional schools of physical education, Springfield college in Massachusetts and
George Williams College in Chicago (now at Downers Grove, Illinois), adopted
volleyball in all its societies throughout the United States, Canada (in 1900 Canada
became the first foreign country to adopt the game), and also in many other countries:
Elwood S. Brown in the Philippines (1910), J. Howard Crocker in China, Franklin H.
Brown in Japan (1908), Dr. J.H. Gray in Burma, in China and in India, and others in
Mexico and South American, European and African countries.

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HISTORY OF VOLLEYBALL

• Early in 1896 a conference was organized at the YMCA College in Springfield,

• The physical education directors of the YMCA, encouraged particularly by two

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