The
complete set of rules is extensive, but play essentially proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to three times to return the ball to the other side of the court, but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack. An attack is an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the team receiving the ball is unable to pass the ball and continue the rally, thus, losing the point. 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: (Full article...)
The men's tournament in
volleyball at the
2004 Summer Olympics was the 11th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organized by the world's governing body, the
FIVB in conjunction with the
IOC. It was held in
Athens,
Greece from 15 to 29 August 2004. (Full article...)
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international
multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the
International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current
Olympic Games format, though in reverse order with the Olympic Winter Games held in
leap years instead of the Summer Olympic Games. The first summer version was held in
Singapore from 14 to 26 August
2010 while the first winter version was held in
Innsbruck,
Austria from 13 to 22 January
2012.
The idea of such an event was introduced by
Johann Rosenzopf from Austria in 1998. On 6 July 2007, International Olympic Committee (IOC) members at the 119th
IOC session in
Guatemala City approved the creation of a youth version of the
Olympic Games, with the intention of sharing the costs of hosting the event between the IOC and the host city, whereas the travelling costs of athletes and coaches were to be paid by the IOC. These Games will also feature cultural exchange programs and opportunities for participants to meet Olympic athletes. (Full article...)
Image 4
The 1991
FIVB Men's World Cup was held from 22 November to 1 December 1991 in
Japan. The World Cup consisted of 12 teams: champions of 5 geographic areas (Asia, North America, South America, Africa, Europe), the four runners-up, the host country and two guest teams (wild card). (Full article...)
The qualification for the
2016 Women's Olympic volleyball tournament was held from 22 August 2015 to 22 May 2016. Twelve teams qualified, the hosts, the FIVB World Cup champion and runner-up, five continental Olympic qualification tournament champions, and four teams from the World Olympic qualification tournament respectively. Teams already qualified for the event were not eligible to play in the following qualification tournaments. (Full article...)
This was the last Olympic tournament to use side-out scoring, where a team could only score on its own serve. Rally scoring, which awards a point on every play regardless of serving team, was introduced for the 2000 Games. (Full article...)
The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup is an international
volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year following the Olympic Games, but since
1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion is
Turkey, which won its first title at the
2023 tournament.
The historical format of the competition involves 12 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation
Japan, competing in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks. The World Cup (with exception of the 2019 edition) acts as the first qualification event for the following year's
Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying. (Full article...)
Volleyball is one of the
sports that is played at the
Summer Olympic Games in two disciplines: the traditional six-per-side indoor game, and the newer game of
beach volleyball. Indoor volleyball was added to the Olympic programme in 1957 at the
53rd session of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in
Sofia, Bulgaria, and the first competitions were held at the
1964 Summer Olympics in
Tokyo. The Soviet Union won a medal in both the men's and women's competition at the first five Olympics that included volleyball, including the men's gold medal in Tokyo. The Japanese women's team won the gold at the inaugural Olympic volleyball competition, and the silver at the following two Games. The
Montreal Games of 1976 saw the Polish men win the nation's only gold medal in the sport, after the women had won bronze in 1964 and 1968. At the
1980 Moscow Olympics, the hosts won gold in both competitions. The Bulgarian team won their only two volleyball medals in Moscow, a silver and a bronze in the men's and women's tournament, respectively. The United States won its first medals in volleyball at the Los Angeles Games: a gold in the men's competition, and a silver in the women's. The People's Republic of China won the gold medal in the women's competition in Los Angeles, their first time participating in an Olympic volleyball competition. The United States successfully defended their men's gold medal at the
1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and
Peru won their only medal in volleyball, a silver in the women's competition. The Soviet Union won a silver medal in the men's competition and a gold in the women's at what would be their final Olympics. Following the 1990–91
breakup of the Soviet Union, 12 of the 15 newly independent countries competed together as the
Unified Team in
Barcelona. In the women's competition, the Unified Team won the silver medal, and Cuba won their first of three consecutive gold medals. In the men's competition, Brazil won its first gold medal, and the Netherlands its first overall medal in the sport.
On 18 September 1993, at the 101st IOC session in
Monte Carlo, the Committee voted to add beach volleyball for both men and women to the Olympic programme effective with the
1996 Atlanta Games. A
National Olympic Committee is permitted to enter two teams in the beach volleyball tournament; a rule that allowed the United States and Brazil to win both gold and silver in men's and women's beach volleyball respectively that year. Atlanta also saw the Dutch men's indoor team improve their Barcelona silver to a gold. At the
2000 Sydney Olympics, the host Australian team won the gold medal in the women's beach volleyball competition, and the Russian Federation took home its first volleyball medals as an independent country with silver in both indoor competitions. At the
2004 Athens Olympics, Spain won its only medal in volleyball, a silver in the men's beach volleyball competition. In women's beach volleyball, the United States team of
Misty May (now May-Treanor) and
Kerri Walsh (now Walsh Jennings) won the first of three consecutive gold medals, the only team to defend a beach volleyball gold medal. At the
2008 Beijing Olympics, the United States men's indoor team won all their matches on the way to their third gold medal win. This equalled the former Soviet Union's record for the most men's championships. The Soviets won twelve medals in the indoor competition, and Brazilian teams have won thirteen medals in beach competition; respectively the most in each discipline. The Brazilian teams, however, with ten indoor medals lead all nations with a total of twenty medals in volleyball events at the Olympics. (Full article...)
The
North European Women's
Volleyball Club Championship (English. Nordic Club Championships, szw. Nordiska klubbmästerskapen) is a volleyball championship for clubs from the Nordic countries. It was established in 2007 and is organised by the North European Volleyball Zonal Association (NEVZA). In addition to the
Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland) other neighbouring countries may be invited such as
Estonia,
Lithuania,
Latvia and the United Kingdom. (Full article...)
... that voice actress Mako Morino played volleyball for 14 years, but gave up the goal of playing professionally after being assigned to the non-serving
libero position?
Ace : A serve which lands in the opponent's court without being touched, or is touched, but unable to be kept in play by one or more receiving team players.
Assist : Usually the second of a team's three contacts, an assist is awarded for any set ball that results in a kill on the ensuing attack.
Attack : Usually the third of a team's three contacts, an attack is any attempt by the offense to score a point against the defense (this does not include free balls or over-passes).
Stack Blocking : A blocking strategy where the front row players start close to each other at the center of the net, leaving space for swing blocking out to the pins.
Cut / Cut shot : attack with an extreme angle (nearly parallel to the net).
Dig : A defensive contact following an opponent's attack resulting in a playable ball.
Image 7Brazil's
Emanuel Rego signals for an "angle" block for the opposing player on the left and a "line" block for the opposing player on the right (from Beach volleyball)
Image 13US women's team has cited several advantages to
bikini uniforms, such as comfort while playing on sand during hot weather. Photo shows US national team players (
Jennifer Fopma (left) and
Brooke Sweat) in their uniforms. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 14Open-handed tips/dinks are not allowed. Players may instead use their knuckles to attack the ball for a "pokey" shot. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 15Dancers during a match at the 2012 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam (from Beach volleyball)
Image 16A beach volleyball referee determines if a fault has been committed. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 26Unlike
indoor volleyball, beach volleyball is played on soft sand which makes it safer for players to dive. Picture shows
Nick Lucena of the United States diving to "dig" the ball. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 27A linesman signals that a ball is "in" (from Beach volleyball)
Image 29Two opposing players simultaneously contact the ball above the net with open hands, known as a "joust". The receiving team is entitled to another three contacts. (from Beach volleyball)