By Staff
waterhead.com
October 5, 2011

Beach volleyball has been one of the most popular sports featured in the Olympics since it was introduced to the Summer Games in 1996. But the sport itself is much older than that. The history of beach volleyball stretches back further than most people think, to the earliest decades of the 20th century.

The original sport of volleyball was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on February 9, 1865 by William Morgan. Like another uniquely American sport that has since taken the world by storm, basketball, we can trace an exact origin date for volleyball because, unlike baseball, it did not evolve gradually through the centuries, but was purposely invented. William Morgan, the physical education director at his local YMCA, wanted to create a sport that combined elements of tennis with aspects of handball. Morgan hoped his new sport, which he named mintonette, would rival basketball, which had recently been invented in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts.

The name never caught on, but the sport soon did. In a few short years volleyball had a codified set of rules, an official ball, and was being played in countries outside the United States. By the 1910s, creative volleyball players had hit upon the idea of moving the indoor game out of the gymnasium and on to the beach. It was most likely on a beach in Pacific Palisades, California, sometime in the year 1915, that the first game of beach volleyball was played.

The game caught on first in Southern California and Hawaii, and quickly spread to countries with warm climates all over the globe. Beach volleyball became popular in Australia, Brazil, even in China. All over the world, wherever there were beaches, people began to play beach volleyball.

Early beach volleyball games followed the same rules as indoor volleyball. Matches were contested between two teams of six players, with players rotating positions on each change of serve. It wasn't until 1930 that the modern game, with two teams of two players, appeared when four players grew bored waiting for the rest of their teams to arrive and improvised a two-on-two match.

Other advancements came quickly in the decades that followed. By the 1940s two-person teams were competing on the beaches of Santa Monica, California in tournaments, playing for money and trophies. The first sponsored tournaments were held in the 1960s. And in 1976 the first Olympia World Championship of Beach Volleyball took place in Pacific Palisades, California, the place where the sport was born.

There were now professional volleyball players, world-class athletes who earned their living playing the sport. In 1996 at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, beach volleyball was featured as an official Olympic sport for the first time. Men's and women's tournaments were held, with an American duo claiming the gold medal in the men's event, and a Brazilian team winning goal in the women's.

The sport has grown in popularity at a staggering, unprecedented rate since it first appeared in 1915. One reason for this explosion of popularity might be that it is one of the few sports that is equally enjoyable to play as to watch. It can be a fun beach activity, and a brutally competitive spectator sport.

In its one-hundred-year history, the sport has become a universal feature on beaches all over the world. Try to imagine a trip to the beach without it. If you didn't play a game yourself the last time you went to the beach, you undoubtedly saw others playing. From Pacific Palisades, California and the shores of Hawaii, it has reached out and colonized the globe. Beach volleyball is one of the most popular, most exciting sports in the world.

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