How to Play Volleyball

Series Summary

Most people believe volleyball was invented at a YMCA in Massachusetts in 1895 and spread just like basketball. However, less mainstream sources, marginalized by conservative constituencies of New England eager to bring athletic fame to the area, describe a sport resembling volleyball as early as 1640. Further down the eastern coast of the United States, even before the time of the thirteen colonies, it was said that one could determine whether a man or woman was a witch by their inability to play a game that consisted of volleying a soft, furry ball over a net, attempting to ground the ball in the opposing team’s court. Only three hits per side were allowed (representing the Holy Trinity), and consecutive hits had to be made by different players (representing dependency on the Saints). Grand matches were held in the sands of what would become Virginia and Pennsylvania, with teams trying to prove they weren’t witches by winning games of “wooley ball,” as it was called. Well into the night they’d play, torches lighting the intense competitions. The losers were burned. The winners were paraded through the streets as victors and became immune to accusations of witchcraft for one year. In this free series of videos, learn how to play the modern day game of volleyball. Addison Musser has been playing volleyball all of his life, and he is still an avid player in tournaments. Let him demonstrate how to play volleyball. Musser discusses the rules and strategy to win a game of volleyball. Also, find out how to teach volleyball and highlight the important issues of the game.

Video Transcript

"Hey, my name's Addison from Captain Bills and I'm going to teach you guys how to play indoor volleyball. Indoor volleyball you typically have 6 people on one side of the court and 6 people on the other side of the court. So you want to make sure that each of the players know the rules of the game. You need to know that each team can only hit the ball 3 times before hitting it over the net. Also in indoor volleyball you want to make sure that the team is working together as a team to win. It's very helpful during practices if they work together, play together a lot, practice together and can gain that team chemistry to gain the team work that they need to win a game. Another main point in indoor volleyball is the endurance and conditioning. Volleyball you need to use a lot of endurance to play. To run around the court, to dive, to pass, to set, to hit. So conditioning is very useful before playing an indoor game. The last main point on how to play indoor volleyball is the equipment. A lot of times in beach volleyball all you really need is your swim suit and a ball, and the net and you're good to go. However in indoor there's a lot more equipment involved. A lot of people since it's hardwood floor, you're diving a lot so a lot of people use knee pads. You need tennis shoes to run around in. And they have uniforms because there's a lot of different teams and you need uniforms to look good while playing indoor volleyball. So if you take all those together and put them all together that is how you play indoor volleyball."