The sport originated in the United States, and is now just achieving the type of popularity in the U.S. that it has received on a global basis, where it ranks behind only soccer among participation1 sports. Today there are more than 46 million Americans who play volleyball. There are 800 million players worldwide who play Volleyball at least once a week.
In 1895, William G. Morgan, an instructor2 at the Young Men's Christian3 Association in Holyoke, Mass., decided4 to blend elements of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball to create a game for his classes of businessmen which would demand less physical contact than basketball. He created the game of Volleyball . Morgan borrowed the net from tennis, and raised it 6 feet 6 inches above the floor, just above the average mans head.
During a demonstration5 game, someone remarked to Morgan that the players seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth6 over the net, and perhaps volleyball would be a more descriptive name for the sport.
排球历史
1892年在美国马萨诸塞州，耐史密斯博士挂起了两个篮筐从而创造了篮球，而摩根在察看了他的朋友的新创造之后想，对于那些已过中年的商人来讲篮球运动或许过于激烈了一些。因此，四年之后，摩根创造了我们的运动项目。又过了一个世纪，他的创造排球同篮球一道成为了奥运会上速度最快、对抗性最强的比赛项目之一。
摩根刚开始给他的创造起的名字是mintonette，当地的一位教授非常快将它概念为一种把球击过球网的游戏，于是，它刚开始的名字也就发生了改变。
