WILLIAM MORGAN INVENTED THE GAME OF VOLLEYBALL

THE HISTORY OF VOLLEYBALL AND THE YMCA CONNECTION

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William Morgan at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) in Holyoke, Mass., where he worked as Director of Physical Education. Morgan christened his new game Mintonette. The name Volleyball became the official name of the sport after a demonstration game when a spectator remarked that there was a lot of “volleying” during the game.

William Morgan studied at Springfield College, Massachusetts and was born in the state of New York. He met James Naismith, the inventor of basketball while at Springfield. Morgan liked Naismith’s game which was designed for younger students and decided to invent a game more suited for the older members of the YMCA. He based his new game around the German game of Faustball and included elements from tennis (the net), baseball, basketball and handball.

After his graduation Morgan spent his 1st year at the Auburn (Maine) YMCA and in the summer of 1896, he was appointed Director of Physical Education at the YMCA at Holyoke.

He was very popular and his classes grew in numbers.

Today Volleyball is the second most popular sport on Earth, just behind soccer. From its beginnings more than 110 years ago it has now spread to every corner of the world and the number of players is close to one billion.

In the USA alone, there were more than 172,000 volleyball-related injuries that were treated in hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms according to the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission.