Volleyball
Brief introduction of Volleyball
Volleyball is an indoor / outdoor game that is an NCAA and Olympic sport. It happens to be played outdoors in backyards, beaches and playgrounds or indoors in sports courts. The game was invented by William G. Morgan in the year 1895, only 4 years after basketball was invented. Morgan referred to the game as ‘Mintonette’ and he created this as an amalgamation of the various facets of tennis, handball, baseball and basketball.
Things Required To Play Volleyball Game
Other than a knack for this game, you need some important gears:
- Solid ball
It is the most essential equipment, and a leather ball is the best choice for this indoor game. You can also use a cloth ball that can last for long, and which does not sting the arms as much. A synthetic leather ball is ideal for outdoor volleyball.
- Knee pads
These can comfortably fit around the area of the leg, and can prevent injuries. If you are a beginner, you would do better to use thicker pads.
- Ankle braces
A sprained ankle is the commonest injury suffered by anyone who plays volleyball. With a pair of good ankle braces, you can avoid this injury. Braces can keep the area stable without coming in the way of free movement.
- Volleyball duffle bag
You should have a bag that can easily be carried, and comes with many pockets and compartments to let you easily carry and keep all stuffs in a well-organized manner.
Required Skill for Volleyball
In order to play Volleyball, you have to learn a few important skills that are integral to playing the sport.
- Serving
It basically starts every single playing session in this sport. Serving is something that every member of a team has to do, and it is an essential skill. You may complete a serve either overhand or underhand. An overhand serve is stronger and of course more effective. The jump serve and float serve are more specialized serves. You will need some time to be an expert at these, as these happen to be slightly more advanced in form.
- Passing
This means passing the ball, and you must have seen how players do it when they are in action in indoor courts or outdoor areas such as beaches in movies, TV shows etc or in-person.
- Setting
This involves using the hands to push up the Volleyball. Almost every time, a set follows a pass in this game. Setters in a Volleyball team are generally more athletic as compared to the others. They are also the best leaders and the most intelligent of the lot.
Setters are quite like quarterbacks in NFL games. You have to be in charge of moving the ball all around, and helping other players in your team in scoring points.
- Spiking
It is among the more pleasurable aspects of this game. The spike or attack is a way of scoring points in the game. You can be a good hitter if you have excellent hand contact and are able to jump. If you have strong spiking skills, opponents teams will fear you more on the court and you can be an indispensable asset to your team. Spiking and getting scores are definitely one of the most enjoyable feelings in any type of Volleyball. You can be more feared as a player by advancing your spiking skills.
- Blocking
No prizes for guessing what it is! It is more or less the opposite of a serve. Spiking and Blocking essentially go hand in hand. You must be a strong hitter as well as a fantastic blocker to be able to play in the front row. Blocking is important to prevent the other team from scoring.
There are also diving and other skills that are slightly more complex, but all these go on to make Volleyball the fantastic sport that it is.
How to play Volleyball game?
Generally, the game is played in the following manner:
- Two teams stand on opposite sides of a sports net. 6 players have to be there in each team.
- The players are supposed to use their arms and hands for striking a ball from one side to the other of the court, passing the ball over the net.
- Each team attempts to make the ball touch the ground in the opposing team’s boundaries. Every player tries to pass the ball over the sports net, preventing it from touching the ground in the boundaries present in their side. In the game, just 3 touches are allowed per side before the volleyball reaches the airspace of the opposing team.
- As long as the serving team scores, it goes on serving. It keeps on scoring as long the ball keeps dropping on the ground of the side of the opposing team before it might be hit over the sports net. Each score means a gain of a single point. In case the team that serves finds that the ball drops within its own boundaries, it has failed to score any point. It also fails in scoring if any of its members hits the ball over the net but it goes out of bounds or if the team fails to hit the ball 3 times over the net. In that case, there is no point scored by any of the teams, but the other team gets to serve this time.
- When they get the ball served by the other team, players have to rotate their own positions.
Some important rules of Volleyball
- You can prefer to serve in any way you like, jump serves, underhand, overhand etc. But while making the serve, you have to remain in the serving zone. The area of service is always rear to the end line, but limited to the sides beside the sidelines. Make sure that the service order is maintained while serving, whether in the court or on the beach.
- As a back row player, you can spike the volleyball although you have to jump rear to the 10 foot line. You can land before the line, although you have to jump behind it.
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