With the game of volleyball being so fast paced it’s often easy to lose sight of the facts and statistics that are present all around us. These facts and statistics are the foundations of volleyball and make the game what it is today.
The inception of volleyball
Volleyball was invented by William Morgan, who was a Physical Education director of the YMCA, in 1895. Morgan was interested in creating a game in which the core skills used in all of basketball, baseball, handball and tennis were all present. His aim was to combine all of these into one sole sport in which there was minimum physical contact between players; and such, volleyball was born.
The first official game of volleyball, or mintonette as it was known at its inception, was played on 7th July 1986 at Springfield College in Massachusetts. The games name was changed when Morgan observed that the players volleyed the ball back and forth over the net in order to try and win a point.
7 interesting facts and statistics about volleyball
Volleyball is internationally recognised as one of the world’s major sports. It’s inclusion as an Olympic event in two forms (both traditional and beach) is evidence that volleyball is among the elite sports. In recent times, there has also been a major increase in the betting markets on volleyball; this is further evidence of the sports rise in popularity. The rise of promo codes from William Hill and bonus codes plus free bets, like this bet365 bonus, only increases its popularity as a sport to bet on.
As well as this volleyball is among the most played sports by both boys and girls in schools. It’s simplicity and ability to test players both mentally and physically make it a great game for younger people to partake in.
Here’s our top 7 facts and statistics about volleyball:
- The first Volleyball World Championships were organised for men in 1949 and for women in 1952.The competitions are hosted every four years and are generally contested between twenty-four teams.
- The longest ever recorded game of volleyball was played in Kingston, North Carolina and went on for 75 hours and 30 minutes. The longest marathon playing volleyball lasted 85 hours and was carried out by members of SVU Volleyball in the Netherlands. This marathon took place at the Sports Centre Uilenstede in Amstelveen on 27th December 2011.
- During a single game of volleyball each player will jump on average 300 times.
- The skills associated with spiking are said to have originated from a volleyball game played in the Philippines in 1916. This was the recorded use of spiking and since then the skills and techniques have developed leading to spiking as we know it today.
- In 1947 volleyball was made an official game when the FIVB (Federation Internationale de Volleyball) was created.
- More than 800 million people across the world play volleyball each week. Of that 800 million, 46 million are based in America.
- Bulgarian outside hitter Matey Kaziyski, currently owns the world record with thefastest spike everrecorded by a male volleyball player. Kayziski also holds the record for the fastest serve ever recorded. The serve was calculated to be travelling at 132 km hour at its fastest point.
