Physical Education 4

INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL

MODULE 2
Introduction to Team Sports; Volleyball

Learning Outcomes

2.1 Learn the history, basic terms, equipment, facilities and basic rules of volleyball

INTRODUCTION

This module introduces you the introduction to team sports; Volleyball, wherein it
is clearly states and covers the knowledge and skills required to identify and perform the
volleyball attack hit and blocking. Completion of this module will help you in preparing
for the succeeding modules.

This module also consists of one (1) learning outcome. Learning outcome
contains learning activities with instructional sheets. Read the instructional sheet then
proceed to the activities. Your performance in each activity will ascertain that you have
acquired the knowledge and skill necessary for the learning outcomes provided.

Upon completion of this module, report to your teacher for your assessment
regarding the knowledge and skills requirement for this module.

CONTENT

Volleyball has come a long way from the dusty-old YMCA gymnasium of Holyoke,
Massachusetts, USA, where the visionary William G. Morgan invented the sport back in
1895. It has seen the start of two centuries and the dawn of a new millennium.
Volleyball is now one of the big five international sports, and the FIVB, with its 220
affiliated national federations, is the largest international sporting federation in the world.
Volleyball has witnessed unprecedented growth over the last two decades. With the
great success of world competitions such as the FIVB World Championships, the FIVB
World League, the FIVB World Grand Prix, the FIVB World Cup and the FIVB Grand
Champions Cup as well as the Olympic Games, the level of participation at all levels
internationally continues to grow exponentially.
The beach volleyball phenomenon also continues to amaze. The overwhelming
spectator and television success of beach volleyball since its introduction to the Olympic
Games at Atlanta 1996 and the stunning success of the FIVB World Tour, the World
Championships and the Continental Cup has opened up volleyball to a completely new
market.
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THE ORIGINS
William G. Morgan (1870-1942), who was born in the State of New York, has
gone down in history as the inventor of the game of volleyball, to which he originally
gave the name "Mintonette".
The young Morgan carried out his undergraduate studies at the Springfield
College of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he met James
Naismith who, in 1891, had invented basketball. After graduating, Morgan spent his first
year at the Auburn (Maine) YMCA after which, during the summer of 1895, he moved to
the YMCA at Holyoke (Massachusetts) where he became director of physical education.
In this role he had the opportunity to establish, develop and direct a vast programme of
exercises and sport classes for male adults.
His leadership was enthusiastically accepted, and his classes grew in numbers.
He came to realise that he needed a certain type of competitive recreational game in
order to vary his programme. Basketball, a sport that was beginning to develop, seemed
to suit young people, but it was necessary to find a less violent and less intense
alternative for the older members.
At that time Morgan knew of no similar game to volleyball which could guide him;
he developed it from his own sports training methods and his practical experience in the
YMCA gymnasium. Describing his first experiments he said, "In search of an
appropriate game, tennis occurred to me, but this required rackets, balls, a net and
other equipment, so it was eliminated, but the idea of a net seemed a good one. We
raised it to a height of about 6 feet, 6 inches (1.98 metres) from the ground, just above
the head of an average man. We needed a ball and among those we tried was a
basketball bladder, but this was too light and too slow. We therefore tried the basketball
itself, which was too big and too heavy."
In the end, Morgan asked the firm of A.G. Spalding & Bros. to make a ball, which
they did at their factory near Chicopee, in Massachusetts. The result was satisfactory:
the ball was leather-covered, with a rubber inner tube, its circumference was not less
than 25 and not more than 27 inches (63.5 cm and 68.6 cm, respectively), and its
weight not less than 9 and not more than 12 ounces (252 gr and 336 gr, respectively).
Morgan asked two of his friends from Holyoke, Dr. Frank Wood and John Lynch,
to draw up (based on his suggestions) the basic concepts of the game together with the
first 10 rules.
Early in 1896 a conference was organized at the YMCA College in Springfield,
bringing together all the YMCA Directors of Physical Education. Dr. Luther Halsey
Gulick, director of the professional physical education training school (and also
executive director of the department of physical education of the International
Committee of YMCA's) invited Morgan to make a demonstration of his game in the new
college stadium. Morgan took two teams, each made up of five men (and some loyal
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INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL

fans) to Springfield, where the demonstration was made before the conference
delegates in the east gymnasium. The captain of one of the teams was J.J. Curran and
of the other John Lynch who were respectively, mayor and chief of the fire brigade of
Holyoke.
Morgan explained that the new game was designed for gymnasia or exercise
halls, but could also be played in open air. An unlimited number of players could
participate, the object of the game being to keep the ball in movement over a high net,
from one side to the other.
After seeing the demonstration, and hearing the explanation of Morgan,
Professor Alfred T. Halstead called attention to the action, or the act phase, of the ball's
flight, and proposed that the name "Mintonette" be replaced by "Volley Ball." This name
was accepted by Morgan and the conference. (It is interesting to note that the same
name has survived over the years, with one slight alteration: in 1952, the Administrative
Committee of the USVBA voted to spell the name with one word, "Volleyball", but
continued to use USVBA to signify United States Volleyball Association).
Morgan explained the rules and worked on them, then gave a hand-written copy
to the conference of YMCA directors of physical education, as a guide for the use and
development of the game. A committee was appointed to study the rules and produce
suggestions for the game's promotion and teaching.
A brief report on the new game and its rules was published in the July 1896
edition of "Physical Education" and the rules were included in the 1897 edition of the
first official handbook of the North American YMCA Athletic League.
BASIC TERMS
SERVE
A serve begins each rally. A player must hit the ball with his or her hand over the
net to land inside the lines of the court. Players may serve underarm or overarm (hardly
anyone at elite level would offer an underarm serve). A popular serve is the "jump" or
"spike" serve: the player jumps and serves the ball while airborne.
Each player gets only one chance to serve. The serve can touch the net and
continue into the opponent's court. Before this rule was introduced, a net touch on
service ended the rally and the point was awarded to the receiving team. When the
serving team loses a rally, it loses the right to serve. The receiving team then rotates
one position on the court.
DIG
The "dig" is a forearm pass that is used to control the ball and pass it to the setter
at the net. It is usually the first contact by the team and an effective shot to use in
defence, such as when receiving a spike. The "libero" handles much of the team's serve
reception and is pivotal in backcourt defence.
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INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL

SET
The "set" is an overhead pass used to change the direction of the dig and put the
ball in a good position for the spiker.
It is usually the team's second contact. Setting is the tactical centre of Volleyball.
A setter must be good enough to keep the big blockers from dominating the net. The
setter must feed his or her best hitters while also looking for opponent's blocking
weaknesses (such as a short player on the front line or a slow centre blocker).
SPIKE
The "spike" is when the ball is hit or smashed across the net. It is the most
powerful shot in volleyball – and the most effective way to win a rally.

BLOCK
This is the first line of defence in Volleyball. The objective of the "block" is to stop
the spiked ball from crossing the net or to channel the spike to defenders. The three
front-court players share blocking. Teams usually opt for a "read and react" block
(whereby they try to react to the ball leaving the setter's hands) or for a "commit" block
(whereby they decide before the point whether to jump on the quick middle balls).
The key to good blocking is penetration – the best blockers reach well over the
net and into the opponent's court rather than reaching straight up, when the block can
be easily penetrated by quality hitters.
THE BALL
After testing many colours, the FIVB introduced a ball with yellow, blue and white
panels at the World Championships in Japan in 1998. It replaced the traditional all-white
ball.
THE RALLY POINT SYSTEM
In 1998 the FIVB also tried some different scoring systems. At its World
Congress in October 1998, the FIVB ratified the "rally point system." Every rally would
now earn a point. The first four sets are played to 25, but the winning team must be
ahead by at least two points. The fifth set is played to 15 – and again the winner must
have a two-point margin. The system was designed to make the scoring system easier
to follow and games faster and more exciting.

THE LIBERO
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INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL

The FIVB introduced a new specialised defensive player, the "libero", in 1996.
The libero can perform only as a backcourt player and may not play an attacking shot
(when the ball is hit back across the net), serve or block. If the libero makes an
overhead set of the ball in front of the 3-metre attack line, the ball may not be spiked
over by the team. If the libero makes the same action behind the front zone, the ball
may be freely attacked.
The libero must wear a jersey with a different colour or design than those of other
team members.
ROTATION
Each of the six players on an indoor team rotates a position after winning back
service from the opponent. This is the key to the tactics of indoor Volleyball – you
cannot simply keep your best blockers and spikers at the net or your best defenders in
backcourt.
After serving from position one, players rotate to position six (middle back), then
position five (left back), position four (left front), position three (middle front) and position
two (right front) before returning to serve.
A team must be in correct rotation order before the serve is put into play. Once
the ball is served, the players can move positions but backcourt players cannot move to
the net to block or spike. They must make all attacking actions from behind the attack
line (hence the advent of the backcourt attack to have great spikers participating in all
six rotations). The rotation rule explains why a setter often appears to be "hiding" behind
his or her players before a point. The setter must be in proper rotation order before
sprinting to the net or a point is given to the opposition.
EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES
Court and Equipment The volleyball court is 18 meters from endline to endline
and 9 meters from sideline to sideline (figure I.1). The centerline (below the net) divides
the court in half. Each team’s attack line is three meters from the centerline. A back-row
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INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL

player must stay behind the attack line when jumping to contact a ball that is above the
height of the net. Players may initiate the serve from anywhere along the endline.
For women’s volleyball, the net is 2.24 meters (7 feet, 4-1/8 inches) high; for
men’s volleyball, the net is 2.43 meters (7 feet, 11-5/8 inches) high. The net should be
strung tightly to avoid any sagging and to allow a ball driven into the net to rebound
cleanly instead of dropping straight to the floor. Antennae are connected to the
volleyball net just above the sidelines (figure I.2). The volleyball must always pass over
the net and between the antennae on a serve and throughout a rally. Safety rules
require that the poles and the referee stand must be padded. Most beginning volleyball
players think of each side of the court as two zones: front row and back row. Help your
players discover right from the start that there are six zones (figure I.3): right back (zone
1), right front (zone 2), middle front (zone 3), left front (zone 4), left back (zone 5), and
middle back (zone 6). What do you need to play? Begin with volleyball shoes, knee
pads, and a volleyball. Choose an indoor or outdoor court. Talk to a local volleyball
coach for sound advice on what type of ball to purchase. The proper uniform includes
matching T-shirts and shorts, appropriate volleyball shoes, and knee pads. If you are
starting a new team, you will need to purchase T-shirts with numbers on the front and
back; then select team shorts. The color and brand should be the same for all players,
with the exception of the uniforms worn by liberos, who are required to wear a shirt of a
contrasting color.
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BASIC RULES
Volleyball is a sport played by two teams on a playing court divided by a net.
There are different versions available for specific circumstances in order to offer the
versatility of the game to everyone. The object of the game is to send the ball over the
net in order to ground it on the opponent's court, and to prevent the same effort by the
opponent. The team has three hits for returning the ball (in addition to the block
contact). The ball is put in play with a service, hit by the server over the net to the
opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out"
or a team fails to return it properly. In Volleyball, the team winning a rally scores a point
(Rally Point System). When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and the right
to serve, and its players rotate one position clockwise.
Volleyball is a complex game of simple skills. The ball is spiked from up to 60 cm
above the height of a basketball hoop (about 3.65 metres) and takes fractions of a
second to travel from the spiker to the receiver. That means the receiver must assess
incoming angle, decide where to pass the ball and then control their pass in the blink of
an eye. A purely rebound sport (you can't hold the ball), volleyball is a game of constant
motion.
A team can touch the ball three times on its side of the net. The usual pattern is a
dig (an underarm pass made with the forearms), a set (an overhead pass made with the
hands) and a spike (the overhead attacking shot). The ball is served into play. Teams
can also try to block the opponent's spike as it crosses the net. A block into your own
court counts as one of your three touches in beach volleyball, but not in volleyball.
Power and height have become vital components of international teams, but the
ability of teams and coaches to devise new strategies, tactics and skills has been crucial
for continued success.
There are six players on court in a volleyball team, who each must rotate one
position clockwise every time their team wins back service from the opposition. Only the
three players at the net positions can jump and spike or block near the net. The
backcourt players can only hit the ball over the net if they jump from behind the attack
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line, also known as the three-metre line, which separates the front and back part of the
court.
Volleyball has developed into a very specialised sport. Most teams will include in
their starting line-up a setter, two centre blockers, two receiver-hitters and a universal
spiker. Only certain players will be involved with service reception. Players will also
have specialist positions for attack and defence. Substitutions are allowed during the
game.
Since 1998, volleyball bas been using a new scoring system. Teams scored a
point on every rally (Rally Point System), regardless of which team served. Formerly, a
team could only win a point if it served the ball. Winning the serve back from the
opposition was known as a side-out.
Matches are played best of five sets. The first four sets are played to 25 points,
with the final set being played to 15 points. A team must win a set by two points. There
is no ceiling, so a set continues until one of the teams gains a two-point advantage.
Previously, all sets were to 15 points, with the first four sets having a ceiling of 17 and
the final set requiring at least a two-point winning advantage.
In 1998, the FIVB introduced a new specialist role: the libero. This player wears a
different coloured uniform from the rest of the team and can be substituted in backcourt
for any player on the team. The libero cannot serve, spike the ball over the net or rotate
into the front-line positions, but plays a vital role for the team in serve reception and
backcourt defence. There must be at least one point played between a libero
substituting off for a player and going back on the court for another player – hence
he/she cannot be on the court for the whole game. The libero has added an extra
dimension to backcourt defence, improving the reception of teams, lengthening the
rallies and giving a vital role to shorter players.

ASSESSMENT

Name: _______________________________________
Section: _____________________________________
 Physical Education 4
INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL

Exercise 2.1
INTRODUCTION TO TEAM SPORTS; VOLLEYBALL
Directions: Read the following sentences carefully. Select TRUE if the statement is
correct, and choose FALSE if the statement is erroneous.

1. The object of the Volleyball game is to send the ball around the net in order to
ground it on the opponent's court, and to prevent the same effort by the
opponent.
2. The team has three hits for returning the ball (in addition to the block contact).
The ball is put in play with a service, hit by the server over the net to the
opponents.
3. In Volleyball, the team winning a rally scores a point (Rally Point System). When
the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and do not have the right to serve,
and its players rotate one position clockwise.
4. A player can touch the ball three times on its side of the net. The usual pattern is
a dig (an underarm pass made with the forearms), a set (an overhead pass made
with the hands) and a spike (the overhead attacking shot).
5. There are six players on court in a volleyball team, who each must rotate one
position counter-clockwise every time their team wins back service from the
opposition.
6. Only the three players at the net positions can jump and spike or block near the
net.
7. The backcourt players can only hit the ball over the net if they jump from behind
the attack line, also known as the three-metre line, which separates the front and
back part of the court.
8. Most teams will include in their starting line-up a setter, two centre blockers, two
receiver-hitters and a universal spiker. Only certain players will be involved with
service reception.
9. If the libero makes an overhead set of the ball in front of the 3-metre attack line,
the ball may not be spiked over by the team. If the libero makes the same action
behind the front zone, the ball may be freely attacked.
10. The volleyball court is 18 meters from endline to endline and 8 meters from
sideline to sideline.
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References:

Dearing, J. (2019). Volleyball Fundamentals. In Human Kinetics, Inc. (Vol. 356, Issue
1408).

FIVB, (2021), Rules of the Game, Volleyball Rules,