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Volleyball was invented by William Morgan in 1896 in Holyoke, Mass. and was originally called "mintonette".
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1900: a special ball was designed for the sport.
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1916: in the Philippines, an offensive style of passing the ball in a high trajectory to be struck by another player (the set and spike) were introduced.
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1920: three hits per side and back row attack rules were instituted.
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1930s: the first two-man beach volleyball game is played in Santa Monica, California..
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1964: Volleyball was introduced to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
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1984: the U.S. won their first medals at the Olympics in Los Angeles. The Men won the Gold, and the Women the Silver.
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1986: the Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA) was formed.
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1988: the U.S. Men repeated the Gold in the Olympics in Korea.
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1990: the World League was created
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In 1995, the sport of Volleyball was 100 years old!
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1996: 2-person beach volleyball debuted as an Olympic Sport.
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1997: Dain Blanton (with Canyon Ceman) becomes the first African-American professional beach volleyball player to win a tournament on the Miller Lite/AVP Tour.
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2001: Christopher "Sinjin" Smith plays the final match of his impressive career, a 21-19 and 24-22 loss with George Roumain to Dax Holdren and Todd Rogers in the 4th round of the contender's bracket at the AVP Manhattan Beach Open. Sinjin retires as the leader in tournaments played with 416, 2nd in all-time victories with 139, and 4th in all-time winnings with over US$1.6 million earned.
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2002: Beach volleyball court dimensions reduced to 8m x 8m per side.
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2004: Kerri Walsh and Misty May Win the Women's Olympic Beach Volleyball Title
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Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.
