What You Need To Know
16 FEBRUARY 2018, AUNI KAMALIA FARIDZ
VOLLEYBALL
A game for all
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(PHOTO BY JASON OGULNIK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL)
Despite volleyball being a 113-year-old sport, it is still played today in schools, universities and sometimes, workplaces. Volleyball is the 5th most famous sport, behind soccer, cricket, field hockey and tennis (www.top10zen.com). Volleyball is a simple sport that can be played on any surface - grass, sand, cement, and most recently for the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter games, snow! In light of this interesting phenomenon, get ready to bump, set and spike for some volleyball 101! In this article, we will be looking at the beginning of volleyball itself, the basics of the sport, the brilliant players in volleyball, and the general information of the sport in Malaysia today.
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The Beginning
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On 9th of February in the year 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, 25-year-old William George Morgan created Mintonette - a sport which we call today as Volleyball. He was working as the Director of Physical Education at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) after attending YMCA International Training School with the creator of basketball, James Naismith.
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Working as the Director of Physical Education, Morgan noticed that the sport of basketball was not meant for everyone to play. Running up and down the court while occasionally running into different body sizes of sweaty men was not really favourable for males of weaker physical abilities, non-athletic adults or even older males. He had to think of a new game, a game where men of all ages and physical ability could participate; a game that has similar objectives to the sport of basketball.
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Hence, in between juggling classes at the YMCA and generating a new sport fit for all, William Morgan decided that it was best that he combined the ideas of different sports such as handball, tennis and badminton along with his knowledge from sports training methods and experience, to design this new sport that he was determined to produce. He decided that the new sport would have a net dividing the court, and the court itself a 30 feet and 60 feet width and length respectively, so it could be played at any existing gyms anywhere across the nation. The sport could also be played outdoors, but it was encouraged to be played indoors.
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Morgan then established the rules of the game. First, the game will consist of nine ‘innings’, which refer to the division of a game where both sides have a turn at starting the game. Second, the top of the net must be precisely six feet six inches from the floor. This was because American men in the 1800’s were quite short, so the net was to be slightly taller than an average man’s head. Other rules included server and service, scoring, the terms netball and line ball and finally play and players. At the time, the number of players didn’t matter as it was to be dependent on the availability of space at the chosen location.
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After establishing a number of rules, Morgan had wanted to experiment with the game that he had designed, but he would first need a ball. After testing several different balls he had available, he came to a conclusion that he had to make a new ball - a ball that was not too heavy nor too light. He then approached A.G. Spalding & Bros., a renowned sports equipment and ball manufacturer, to make him a ball. Dale Callaghan, a young equipment designer and master marine cloth tailor, created the first prototype volleyball which had pleased William Morgan. The ball was perfect, weighing an ideal nine to 12 ounces and nicely covered in pure leather. Finally, Morgan was ready to show his new sport to the world.
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Morgan had first revealed his new and creative sport to the other Directors of Physical Education at the YMCA in Springfield in 1896. The other directors were very pleased and had then asked him to launch the new sport at the school’s new stadium.
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The first Mintonette exhibition game was played by two teams of five males in the year 1896 in front of conference delegates in the East Gymnasium at YMCA International Training School. One of the delegates, Professor Alfred T. Halsted, then pointed out that the players seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth to one another, and that maybe the game should be called ‘Volleyball’. Morgan approved, and the name is in use until today. He then continued to tweak the rules of the game for improvement purposes up until July 1896, when the sport was officially added into the first official handbook of the North American YMCA Athletic League.
Every few years since 1896, the court size and other rules were changed for improvement purposes. Some of the early rules seemed very odd to modern players, thus changes were made to suit the times. Changes to the game continued to be made throughout the years to finally produce the type of volleyball game we play today.
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The continent of Asia got to know Volleyball through the YMCA network by 1896 and in 1916, some of the game’s players in the Philippines created the methods ‘set’ and ‘spike’. In the 1920s, Japan, Russia and the United States each started their own national volleyball associations. Then, U.S. soldiers brought the game overseas during World War II, whereby the sport spread throughout Europe, becoming an instant hit. Other countries such as Canada, Cuba, Japan, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, etc. had also got a taste of the game and put it into their country-based tournaments, making it even more popular. Then, in 1924, the Olympic Games programme in Paris had featured a demonstration of American sports with included volleyball. In the 1930s, beach volleyball had stolen the limelight from indoor volleyball as the idea of playing the game on sand was more fun and had therefore captured the hearts of modern players. In 1964, 22 years after William George Morgan’s death, volleyball was officially added to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Today, there are over 900 million people playing volleyball. This simple sport, which can be played on any types of surface, is played all over the world as all that is needed are only a ball and a net. The simplicity and flexibility of the game are the factors that make it widely popular, increasing the chances of it expanding its fanbase for the years to come.
The Basics
Volleyball has come a long way, with changes having been made to the game throughout the years. Here are the basics of the game that are in practice today.
Indoor Volleyball positions
First, as previously mentioned, the surface of the sport’s playing area is versatile, meaning that the game could be played on any surface. The most common surfaces which players prefer are cement (indoors) and sand (the beach). Indoor and outdoor (beach) volleyball differ in several aspects. For example, in terms of player positions, indoor volleyball features six people on each side of the court, and their positions are assigned before the start of the game. The players will take positions such as the hitters, the setter (passing specialists), the server, the diggers, the libero and finally, the blockers who try to stop the opposing team’s attacker from hitting the ball to their side of the court. Hence, altogether the two teams would feature a total of twelve players. Beach volleyball, however, only requires two players for each side of the court, thus making it a total of only four players.
Second, there are a total of six specifically required skills in volleyball players, which are serve, pass, set, attack, block and dig. Serving is where a player attempts to drive the ball into the opponent’s side of the court. Pass, which is also called reception, is where a player from the first team attacks the other team by sending the ball to their side of the court. The passing of a ball could be done with two hand gestures; one, where the hands are clasped together with the forearms arm in arm (literally) and the ball is hit using the underside of our forearms. Another way to pass the ball is to hit the ball with force with the palm itself. Both these techniques are called bump and underhand pass respectively, and they are both accepted for indoor and beach volleyball. The third skill, set, is where the players who are assigned as setters use their passing skills to coordinate the team’s movements, thus making them the important members of the team. They observe the opposing team’s attack strategy and help their own team members in countering the attack. Setters could also hit the ball themselves, resulting in a method called dump where they hit the ball directly to the other side of the court. The fourth skill is called an attack, which is also known as the spike, is how the players handle the ball, coming in for the kill. It involves sending the ball to the other side of the court with force and agility so it could not be defended. Before attacking, the player will make a series of steps which is called the approach, where the player jumps and swings the ball. The contact of the hitter’s hand and the ball is the climax of the attack. The hitter swings his arm with a rapid forward movement, hitting the ball to the other side of the court. When the ball hits the court floor and bounces into the air, a point is counted for the team that attacked. There are a number of attacking techniques; including back-court, line and cross-court and the off-speed-hit. However, an attack can be stopped by the defending team with a block, which is the fifth skill required in this sport. A block is when players attempt to hinder an attack from the opposing team. A block can be made by one player or more, and methods include roof block or soft block. A roof block is when the players curve the direction of the ball downwards, aiming it for the opponent’s side of the court, which is much like the attack. The soft block, however, is when blocking players push the ball upwards instead of downwards, not attempting a re-attack. Finally, the sixth skills required by volleyball players is the dig. The dig is the last minute save from an attack. If a block does not work, players will opt for the dig method. Digging involves preventing the ball from touching one's court after an attack. The two digging options used to prevent the attack are the dive and the pancake. The dive is where the player lunges himself to the floor, landing on his chest in an attempt to save the ball from touching the floor. Alternatively, when the player slides his hands under the ball to prevent it from touching the floor, it is called the pancake. Usually, players opt for the pancake as it is the more natural defensive reflex as it is easier to push the ball upwards using the hands. Nevertheless, these saves are not recommended to use during a beach volleyball match as the condition of the surface is not suitable for body plunging. The six skills discussed so far should ideally be mastered by every good volleyball player. On the subject of good volleyball players, the next section discusses the personalities dubbed as the best of the best volleyball players.
The Brilliant
Every sport must have their star players. Soccer, for instance, has Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in its list of the world’s best soccer players. In the case of volleyball, here are the top three male and female volleyball players as of the present.
In the first place for the Best and Most Famous Male, Volleyball Player is 32-year-old Australian volleyball player, Nathan Roberts. He has played over 300 matches for the Australian National Team during the World Championships in 2006, 2010 and 2014, back to back. Most people knew he was on the path to greatness when he won a gold medal at the blooming age of 21 during the 2007 Asian Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. He also won the title of best spiker (attacker) at the 2011 Asian Championships in Tehran, Iran. His team won the Australian Volleyball League Championship in 2003, the Danish Volleyball League Championships in 2006, and The Slovenian Cup and League Championships in 2015.
Following Nathan Roberts is 31-year old Brazilian, Wallace de Souza. He has multiple Best Spiker/Server/Scorer achievements and two Most Valuable Player honours. Playing for Brazil’s National Team, de Souza had helped his team win the under-20 World Championships in 2007, the World League title in 2010, and the gold medal at the Pan American Games. Wallace de Souza then proved his skills worthy of praise when his team finished the World Cup with a bronze medal, the 2012 Summer Olympics with a silver medal. He was awarded the title Best Opposite Spiker at the 2014 FIVB World League. However, de Souza had a back surgery in 2015 due to his hernia (a hole in the muscular wall) which put him on the sidelines for some time. Eventually, he returned a year after to obtain, with the Brazilian National Volleyball team, the second spot in the Volleyball World League. They then achieved the title of Olympic champions in the 2016 Olympic Games.
At the third place for the Best and Most Famous Male Volleyball Players is Paul Lotman, a 33-year-old American. While with a Polish club, Lotman helped the team win three titles of Polish Champion in 2012, 2013 and 2015, Polish SuperCup 2013 and a silver medal of CEV Cup in 2012. Paul then left the Polish club in May 2015, joining a German team and soon after, debuting with the U.S. national team in the 2012 Olympics in London. He then had a number of achievements in events such as the Pan-American Cup in 2008 (gold), the NORCECA Championships in 2009 (silver), 2011 (silver) and 2013 (gold); the FIVB World League in 2014 (gold) and 2015 (bronze) and the FIVB World Cup in 2015, also winning a gold.
For the opposite gender, in the first place for the Best and Most Famous Female Volleyball Player is Gabrielle Reece, an American. Alongside her volleyball career, Reece is also a sports announcer, fashion model and actress. When Reece was sixteen, she took up volleyball and had prospered ever since, accepting a scholarship from Florida State University and set two school volleyball records, in 240 solo blocks and 747 blocks, both records still standing until today. In 1989, Gabrielle Reece moved to New York to pursue her modelling and sports career. During the time, she and her team took first place at the first-ever Beach Volleyball World Championships organized at the UCLA Tennis Center, in her fifth season as a team captain in the Women's Beach Volleyball League (WBVL). For four consecutive years, Reece was the WBVL kills leader from 1993 to 1996 and named the Offensive Player of the Year in 1994 and 1995; plus, the League Blocks Leader in 1993. She also competed in the 1999 to 2000 Olympic Challenge Series, the 1999 to 2000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, and other big-name competitions. However, in 2009, Gabrielle Reece announced that she was to end her volleyball career, saying, "With young children, I simply didn't have the time for such a demanding game.”
In second place for the Best and Most Famous Volleyball Player is Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings who is also an American. She too, is also a professional beach volleyball player, earning the nickname Six Feet of Sunshine. Born in 1978, Walsh is three-time Olympic gold medalist and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is victory itself, earning wins as of 2016, with 133 victories and $2,542,635 in wins. However, Walsh didn’t succeed alone. Walsh and her teammate Misty May-Treanor (who is also a retired American volleyball player) were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. They both also won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and have been called the greatest beach volleyball team of all time. In 2002 the team reached a number one ranking and continued their dominance in 2003, winning all eight tournaments they entered with a then-record 90 straight matches, including the world championships where they brought down world champions, Brazil, in the final. Then, partner Misty May-Treanor retired in 2012, and Walsh teamed with April Ross. Walsh went on to break the record for most wins by a female professional volleyball player when she won the FIVB Grand Slam in Xiamen, China. Since then, Kerri had appeared in five Summer Olympics; Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016); winning her fair share of trophies.
Born in 1979, Francesca Piccinini is the third Best and Most Famous Volleyball Player who has represented Italy in the years 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 at the Summer Olympics. She made her debut as an Italy volleyball representative in 1995, then becoming a member of Italy’s Women's National Team that won the gold medal at the 2002 World Championship in Germany. What is interesting about her is that she was inspired by the Japanese anime Attack No. 1 to become a professional volleyball player. Piccinini had won the Most Valuable Player award when her team won the 2009/10 CEV Indesit Champions League. In 2016, she again became Most Valuable Player when her team claimed the 2015/16 CEV DenizBank Champions League title.
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Notice that it is mostly Americans and Brazilians who are dominating the sport. That is why players such as Aussie Nathan Roberts and Italian Francesca Piccinini are highly respected in the world of volleyball. What about volleyball in Malaysia? The following section describes the Malaysian volleyball scenario.
Volleyball in Malaysia
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It is not clear when volleyball was introduced in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the sport was included and continues to be included in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games from the year 1997 until now (with an exception of 1999). Malaysia has two national volleyball teams - men and women. Both teams are under Malaysia’s Volleyball Association (MAVA). So far, Malaysia has only won one silver medal in the year 2001 (men’s) and one bronze medal (women’s) in the year 1983 in the SEA Games.
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Volleyball in Malaysia is not as popular as some other games such as soccer and badminton even though it is a very adaptable sport that anyone could play. Hence, as a community, we should work together to nurture the interest and passion for volleyball in Malaysians today.
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There are actually many ways we can learn about and pursue the sport. One is by signing ourselves up with volleyball clubs which are available for curricular activities in schools or universities. Another way to explore volleyball is to search for existing clubs which have weekly training sessions. A club, in particular, is the City Rangers Volleyball Club (CRVC) which is based in the Klang Valley. The club is a non-profit body which was formed in 2010 out of pure passion for volleyball by the founders. CRVC is also one of the more prominent volleyball teams in the country, holding events such as CRVC Open, which is held annually, where everyone is invited to show off their skills or just to play for fun. Their Facebook page shows upcoming events and the progress of the club itself. Sometimes, they also travel overseas to participate in overseas volleyball tournaments such as the recent event, 2017 Youth Volleyball Tournament in Thailand. They highly promote the sport, alongside supporting young players’ dreams to pursue it.
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In conclusion, volleyball is a game for all, and we should support its growth not only in Malaysia but around the world as well.