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vollyball
Volleyball
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Volleyball (disambiguation).
"V-ball" redirects here. For the cricket variant, see V-Ball cricket.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2011) |
 Typical volleyball action | |
| Highest governing body | FIVB |
|---|---|
| First played | 1895, Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No contact |
| Team members | 6 |
| Mixed gender | Single |
| Categorization | Indoor, beach, grass |
| Equipment | Volleyball |
| Olympic | 1964 |
The rally continues, with each team allowed as many as three consecutive touches, until either (1): a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent's court and winning the rally; or (2): a team commits a fault and loses the rally. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point, and serves the ball to start the next rally. A few of the most common faults include:
- causing the ball to touch the ground outside the opponents' court or without first passing over the net;
- catching and throwing the ball;
- double hit: two consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same player;
- four consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same team.
- net foul: touching the net during play.
- foot fault: the foot crosses over the boundary line when serving
A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking (because these plays are made above the top of the net, the vertical jump is an athletic skill emphasized in the sport) as well as passing, setting, and specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures.
Contents[hide] |
History
Origin of volleyball
The first rules, written down by William G Morgan, called for a net 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) high, a 25×50 ft (7.6×15.2 m) court, and any number of players. A match was composed of nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning, and no limit to the number of ball contacts for each team before sending the ball to the opponents’ court. In case of a serving error, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was considered a foul (with loss of the point or a side-out)—except in the case of the first-try serve.
After an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896, played at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College), the game quickly became known as volleyball (it was originally spelled as two words: "volley ball"). Volleyball rules were slightly modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various YMCAs.[2][3]
Refinements and later developments
The first official ball used in volleyball is disputed; some sources say that Spalding created the first official ball in 1896, while others claim it was created in 1900.[4][5][6] The rules evolved over time: in the Philippines by 1916, the skill and power of the set and spike had been introduced, and four years later a "three hits" rule and a rule against hitting from the back row were established. In 1917, the game was changed from 21 to 15 points. In 1919, about 16,000 volleyballs were distributed by the American Expeditionary Forces to their troops and allies, which sparked the growth of volleyball in new countries.[4]The first country outside the United States to adopt volleyball was Canada in 1900.[4] An international federation, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), was founded in 1947, and the first World Championships were held in 1949 for men and 1952 for women.[7] The sport is now popular in Brazil, in Europe (where especially Italy, the Netherlands, and countries from Eastern Europe have been major forces since the late 1980s), in Russia, and in other countries including China and the rest of Asia, as well as in the United States.[2][3][7]
Beach volleyball, a variation of the game played on sand and with only two players per team, became a FIVB-endorsed variation in 1987 and was added to the Olympic program at the 1996 Summer Olympics.[4][7] Volleyball is also a sport at the Paralympics managed by the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled.
Volleyball in the Olympics
Main article: Volleyball at the Summer Olympics
The history of Olympic volleyball traces back to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where volleyball was played as part of an American sports demonstration event.[8] After the foundation of FIVB and some continental confederations, it began to be considered for official inclusion. In 1957, a special tournament was held at the 53rd IOC session in Sofia, Bulgaria to support such request. The competition was a success, and the sport was officially included in the program for the 1964 Summer Olympics.[4]The Olympic volleyball tournament was originally a simple competition: all teams played against each other team and then were ranked by wins, set average, and point average. One disadvantage of this round-robin system is that medal winners could be determined before the end of the games, making the audience lose interest in the outcome of the remaining matches. To cope with this situation, the competition was split into two phases with the addition of a "final round" elimination tournament consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals matches in 1972. The number of teams involved in the Olympic tournament has grown steadily since 1964. Since 1996, both men's and women's events count twelve participant nations. Each of the five continental volleyball confederations has at least one affiliated national federation involved in the Olympic Games.
The U.S.S.R. won men's gold in both 1964 and 1968. After taking bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968, Japan finally won the gold for men's volleyball in 1972. Women's gold went to Japan in 1964 and again in 1976. That year, the introduction of a new offensive skill, the backrow attack, allowed Poland to win the men's competition over the Soviets in a very tight five-set match. Since the strongest teams in men's volleyball at the time belonged to the Eastern Bloc, the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics did not have as great an effect on these events as it had on the women's. The U.S.S.R. collected their third Olympic Gold Medal in men's volleyball with a 3–1 victory over Bulgaria (the Soviet women won that year as well, their third gold as well). With the U.S.S.R. boycotting the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the U.S. was able to sweep Brazil in the finals to win the men's gold medal. Italy won its first medal (bronze in the men's competition) in 1984, foreshadowing a rise in prominence for their volleyball teams.
At the 1988 Games, Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons led the U.S. men's team to a second straight gold medal. In 1992, underrated Brazil upset favourites C.I.S., Netherlands, and Italy in the men's competition for the country's first volleyball Olympic gold medal. Runner-up Netherlands, men's silver medalist in 1992, came back under team leaders Ron Zwerver and Olof van der Meulen in the 1996 Games for a five-set win over Italy. A men's bronze medalist in 1996, Serbia and Montenegro (playing in 1996 and 2000 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) beat Russia in the gold medal match in 2000, winning their first gold medal ever. In 2004, Brazil won its second men's volleyball gold medal beating Italy in the finals. In the 2008 Games, the USA beat Brazil in the men's volleyball final.
Rules of the game
The court
A volleyball court is 18 m (59 ft) long and 9 m (29.5 ft) wide, divided into 9 m × 9 m halves by a one-meter (40-inch) wide net. The top of the net is 2.43 m (7 ft 11 5/8 in) above the center of the court for men's competition, and 2.24 m (7 ft 4 1/8 in) for women's competition, varied for veterans and junior competitions.A line 3 m (9.84 ft) from and parallel to the net is considered the "attack line". This "3 meter" (or "10 foot") line divides the court into "back row" and "front row" areas (also back court and front court). These are in turn divided into 3 areas each: these are numbered as follows, starting from area "1", which is the position of the serving player:
The team courts are surrounded by an area called the free zone which is a minimum of 3 meters wide and which the players may enter and play within after the service of the ball.[9] All lines denoting the boundaries of the team court and the attack zone are drawn or painted within the dimensions of the area and are therefore a part of the court or zone. If a ball comes in contact with the line, the ball is considered to be "in". An antenna is placed on each side of the net perpendicular to the sideline and is a vertical extension of the side boundary of the court. A ball passing over the net must pass completely between the antennae (or their theoretical extensions to the ceiling) without contacting them
handball
Czech handball
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2010) |
[edit] History
The Czech handball was first mentioned by Vaclav Karas, a teacher a Prague, in a sports journal in Brno in 1905. Soon after, rule changes were effected by other teachers, by the name of Klenka and Kristof. Thanks to Kristof, the first Czech handball association was established (in Prague) and the rules were made public in 1908.Students from Russia and Yugoslavia, who had become acquainted with Czech handball in Prague, brought this sport to their countries. In Yugoslavia, the sport expanded very fast, and became very popular. Czech teachers were teaching the Czech handball in Russian middle schools and there was a competition with 14 teams in Charkov in 1915, but efforts to expand the sport ended after the October Revolution.
In 1921, the Czechoslovakian Association of Handball and Women's Sports became a member of the International Women's Sports Federation. In this federation, the rules of Czech handball were made official (in those times, there was also one similar sport, Field handball in Germany. Some international federations preferred Czech handball, others preferred Field handball). The first international matches were played.
The first women's Czech handball world cup was organised in 1930. Czechoslovakians won this competition, Yugoslavia came in second, and Poland was third.
The second world cup was held in London in 1934, but only two teams participated: Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Yugoslavians won the match 6-4 and became the champions. After this event, the IWSF was abolished.
Czech handball became very popular during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in WWII. The sport was originally Czech, so most people understood its play as a show of patriotism. In early 40s, there were 25,884 players in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1947, there was a plan by the International Handball Federation to promote the expansion of Team handball, and there were no more new foreign countries where Czech handball would be played.
In 1954, there were 26,125 registered players in 447 clubs, the largest number of registered player to date.
Since 1941, a men's and women's 1st league have been competing. There is also the men's 2nd league and regional championships.
[edit] Rules
More or less, there are very similar rules to the Team handball, but there are also some very different things. Here is the list of the main differences:- size of the field: 45 × 30 meters
- size of the goal: height 240 cm, width 200 cm
- size of the ball: 580 to 605 mm
- the field is divided into 3 areas: defence third, middle third, offense third
- players are called: goalkeeper (1), defender (1), halfbacks (2), forwards (3)
- the player can't hold the ball longer than 2 seconds, he can throw the ball upon the head or bounce ball back off ground - max. 2 times, no limits in steps
- shooting on the goal is made in front of the goal area - leaning out or jumping is possible, but the fall has to be outside the goal area
- goalkeeper and defender can step in the own goal area, forwards can step in the opponent's goal area, but they can't shoot from there
- defender and halfbacks can't step in the offense third, forwards can't step in the defense third, and there are some more rules for crossing between the thirds
- the player can be sent off for 5 or 10 minutes
[edit] External links
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