Volleyball is a team sport played with a ball and a net. There are teams on each side of the net. Each team tries to score points by grounding the ball on the other team's court(球场).
There are two main kinds of competitive(竞技性的)volleyball played in the world right now. They are sports. Team volleyball is played indoors on a hard court with 6 people per team. Beach volleyball is played outdoors on the sand with 2 players per team.
Volleyball can be a lot of fun to play. To play with friends you can play with any number of people and anyone can join in. To be a competitive player takes lots of practice. Good height and jumping ability helps a lot.
Volleyball was invented by William Morgan in 1895. He worked for the YMCA(基督教青年会)and was trying to think up a game that would be fun, like basketball. Of course the rules have changed some since then, but it quickly became a popular sport at the YMCA. The name volleyball came about when a man named Alfred Halstead noticed how the game had a volleying nature.
Volleyball was first played as an Olympic sport in the 1964 Olympics. Japan won the first gold medal in women's volleyball and the USSR(苏联)won the first gold in men's volleyball.
