Volleyball: Another Ball Game

You ask anyone to name an equipment in any sport and the answer is usually the same- a ball. This round object comes in various sizes. It can be kicked, punched, slapped, thrown, rolled, etc. Therefore, it is no surprise that it is found in the name of many a sport and in the name of a fast-growing sport in Nigeria today, Volleyball.

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan in Massachusetts, United States. It was designed as an indoor sport to replace the sport of basketball which businessmen found too vigorous. Morgan originally called the sport “mintonette” but the name was changed to volleyball by Alfred Halstead who noted the volleying nature of play. The official rules were written and printed in 1897. In, 1922, the first nationwide contest for volleyball was held in America. Volleyball was introduced to Europe during World War I. In 1947, the international organization for volleyball was formed in Paris, the Fédération Internationale de Volley Ball (FIVB). International volleyball competitions began in 1913 and only continued to grow since then. The FIVB-sponsored world volleyball championships (for men only in 1949; for both men and women in 1952 and succeeding years) led to the acceptance of standardized playing rules and officiating. Volleyball became an Olympic sport for both men and women at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In 1964, Methodist Boys' High School in Lagos established the first volleyball organization, the Lagos Amateur Volleyball Association (LAVA). In 1969, the Nigerian Amateur Volleyball Association was established. In 1974, Nigeria’s first professional volleyball team called Metropolitan Volleyball Club was founded. In the same year, LAVA became a member of FIVB. 

Volleyball like a lot of sports presents itself to be a deceptively simple game. Just jump up and hit the ball right? Well, that’s only one part of it. This writer will now take you on a journey of how a volleyball game should be.

Volleyball, a game playable both indoors and outdoors, requires minimal equipment: a flat surface measuring 9 meters wide and 18 meters long, known as the court; a volleyball; and a net spanning the center of the court, measuring 2.8 meters for men and 2.2 meters for women. The net separates the court into 2 equal halves and is held in place by structures called antennas. A line parallel to and 3 meters from the center line of the court is also drawn to indicate the point in front of which a backcourt player may not drive the ball over the net from a position above the top of the net. 

Informally, each side of the volleyball court can consist of any number of players but in competition games, each side must consist of 6 players. The game begins with a service, of which there are many types. The serve is considered complete when the player hits the ball from outside the court and the ball goes over the net, between the antennas, and lands in the court of the opposing team. If the ball hits the net and still crosses over to the opposing team's court, the serve is still considered complete. Failure to complete a serve is called a fault and in this case, the point is awarded to the opposing team. A service is received by the opposing team and this receive is called a pass. The pass aims to move the ball to a teammate. The second shot is called a set. The goal is to set the ball near the net for your teammate to hit the ball into the opponent's court. This is called an attack or spike. This means that the number of times a team can touch the ball after its service is 3. All 3 touches may not necessarily be used. 

An attack from one team can be blocked by the opposing team. This block does not count as one of the three allowed hits. Therefore, if the ball lands on the blocking team's court, they still have three remaining hits to return it to the attacking team's court. A point is lost if the ball lands on the opposing team's court or if the blocker blocks the ball out of his team's court. The winner of the current point gets to serve for the next point. 

In volleyball, a match is won when a team reaches 25 points with a lead of at least 2 points. Thus, to secure victory, a team must be ahead by a margin of 2 points. If neither team achieves this lead, the game continues even if one team has scored 25 points. Each match won completes a set and to win the game, a team must win at least 3 sets in a 5-set game.

So far we have talked about the volleyball court and the volleyball game itself, but what about its players? In an ideal volleyball game, we would have: 2 outside hitters, a middle blocker, an opposite hitter, a setter, and a libero. The libero can be likened to a goalkeeper in football. He must stop the ball from hitting his court’s ground and yet at the same time must ensure the ball always completes a pass when he touches it. A fun fact about liberos is that they are usually the shortest ones in a volleyball team. The libero wears a different coloured jersey from his teammates. The hitters are responsible for delivering the final spike into the opponent's court, the setter is responsible for ensuring the passed ball is in an ideal position for the hitter and the blocker ensures that the opponent spike does not enter his court easily and if possible block said spike back into the opponent’s court. 

Congratulations! You now have enough knowledge to play volleyball at your nearest volleyball court without breaking every rule set for the game. One more rule you have to know if you plan to take your volleyball knowledge to the next level is the concept of rotation. The primary purpose of rotation is to ensure each team member has the opportunity to serve and to leverage the libero's ability to be substituted frequently, allowing for strategic adjustments that may surprise the opposing team. A set of volleyball usually has a maximum of 6 substitutions.  

Now just because you understand how the game works does not mean you are instantly able to perform feats that make you seem like you are a volleyball god incarnate. The volleyball game looks deceptively simple but it is not at all. It may not require as much physicality as some sports like basketball but make no mistake the game depends on your physicality. The average male volleyball player is about 1.85m to 2.0m tall. The net is only 2.8 meters tall. There are of course shorter players. There is a saying in the world of volleyball, “It is not how tall you are but how tall you play”. This means that your jumping must be put at a level far above a regular athlete. An average volleyball service in men's games reaches 75 miles per hour and their spike is usually between 50 to 60 miles per hour. To make this terrifying, a car only needs to be moving at about 40 miles per hour to kill a man on impact. The volleyball moves at almost double that speed and the players block, receive, and pass this fast-moving object with various parts of their body. Rest assured the ball is designed to ensure touching it at such speed will not kill you. Another factor to consider is time, volleyball does not have a time limit which means a game can either be very short or very long. The longest volleyball game recorded lasted 85 hours.

Even with all these facts people rush to volleyball and this is because it is a sport that can be learned with enough hard work and discipline. It was designed that way, a sport meant to replace basketball but ensure that all could have a go at it and not be discouraged upon the first time trying it. It does not have too many complicated rules like basketball nor does it require excessive stamina like football or explosive strength like wrestling. So next time you want to try a new sport and be sure you will not completely fail at it, try volleyball. If you are ever bored and want volleyball-themed entertainment check out “Haikyu!” or search for funny volleyball moments on YouTube, there are quite a few.

Olajide Olamide