Popular Game for All

Volleyball is a team game of universal popularity that requires play between two teams. The game is played on a court with the two teams separated by a net. Volleyball has also been a part of the Olympics since year 1964.
Know the Roots of Volleyball
Volleyball, in its earliest form, had come into existence towards the end of the 19th century. It was created as a crossbreed between tennis and handball. It was created as an indoor sport for the elderly crowd as a replacement for basketball, which required strenuous physical activity. As the game required the ball to be volleyed across the net by each team, it came to be known as volleyball.
Present Day Game
Over the years, the rules of the game have undergone modifications. At the very beginning, there was no limit on the number of players in each team and the ball could be hit from one player to another within the same team any number of times. By the early years of the 20th century, the spike and set type of shot had been introduced and a maximum of 3 hits between the players of a team had been enforced. As of today, the court size for a game of volleyball is 18 m in length and 9 m in width. The net is in the middle, thus giving a 9m x 9m court space. At a distance of 3m from the net, another line called the attack line is demarcated. This line differentiates the front and the back court.
Six players must be in any of the five distinct positions in a volleyball game. The setter is the person who runs his/her team’s offense. A setter must be able to set the ball in a location which makes it suitable for the teammates to hit the ball into the opponent’s court. The libero is a defensive specialist, and this position was introduced worldwide in 1998. The libero is free to replace any other player’s position on the court and hence the name. Apart from these, you have the hitter who can block shots from the opponent as well as smash or hit into the opponent’s court. The hitters maybe a middle, left-side, or right-side hitter.
A rally in volleyball consists of different types of attacks and defensive plays. The rally takes off with a serve from any player of a particular team from outside the court’s boundary. There are different types of serve like underhand, jump etc. A pass is made when a player of a team pushes the ball to any one of his/her teammates. A maximum of three passes can be made after which the ball must be sent back to the opponent’s court. The attack can be a smash, cross-court short, wipe etc. The attack is used with the hope that the opponent will not be able to stop the ball from hitting the ground or going out of bounds. On the defensive play, a block can be used just at the net to stop the ball from going any further.
Volleyball has now further developed to beach volleyball where each team has only 2 players. Both beach and ordinary volleyball are under the regulations of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), which is an international association for the sport of volleyball. You must always use all the protective gears from reliable sports stores needed to play any game, not just volleyball.