Who invented Volleyball?

And now it’s time for Who’s Smarted. Hey smarty pants, right now I’m enjoying a beautiful summer day. The sun is shining, the water is cool and refreshing, and the sand is hot.

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!

And in case you couldn’t guess where I am, I am at The Beach. Of course, The Beach is always more fun when you go with family and friends. And I’m joined by my old pal and ace news weather traffic and sports reporter Chet Nickerson, who is getting to enjoy a rare day off.

And so much for Chet not having to work.

No, don’t worry, Trusty! That music is just my ringtone! Hello? What? No, I do not need a new car warranty! Anyway, as I was about to say, Trusty, come join the rest of us for a game of beach volleyball!

beach volleyball. You want to play volleyball on that scorching hot sand?

Oh, it’s not so bad, but if you’re worried, here’s a pair of sand socks.

Um, okay. And who are we playing against? Why, someone-

other friends of the show.

Who wants meat cake? Just kidding. No meat cake while playing volleyball. Or 30 minutes before swimming in the ocean. Grandma, I didn’t know you played volleyball. Are you kidding? I was captain of the girls’ varsity team at my college.

Shit, toss me the ball. Here you go. Eh. Ow. You just spiked the ball off my face.

Sorry! Well, at least that took my mind off the hot sand burning up my feet. And who else do we have? Woah! Of course! My niece Gia, the iconic Woah Girl. Do you play volleyball too?

I sure do. Bump. Set. In.

Ow! Sorry!

That’s two Volleyballs to the face, and we haven’t even started the game yet! And speaking of the game, when was the game of volleyball invented? How do you play volleyball? And what are the different kinds of volleyball you can play?

That’s easy, Uncle Trusty. I can tell you all that. And so can I!

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Okay, trusty, it’s you and me versus the ladies. You can serve first. We’ll be right back. We’ll be right back.

All right, here goes!

Whoa! That was not a good serve!

Yikes. It’s been a while. Luckily, it’s just you three and nobody saw it.

This is Chet Nickerson reporting live from the beach on his day off to share footage of a truly awful volleyball serve. As you can see, it clearly did not go over the net. In fact, it barely even reached the net, resulting in a loss of serve and dignity for trustee

Chet, is the commentary really necessary or even newsworthy? No!

Not at all, but it helps me stay in practice. And speaking of practice, you might want to work on that volleyball serve.

Yeah, Uncle Trusty. It’s impossible to get really good at volleyball if you don’t practice.

OK, OK, maybe I’m not in game shape yet, but before we play volleyball, let’s learn a little more about it. Smarty Pants, we’ll start off with the basics. What kind of sport is volleyball? Is it A, a team sport?

B, an individual sport? Or C, a water sport?

If you said A, a team sport, nice job. And if you said C, a water sport, you may have been thinking about playing volleyball in a pool, which you can definitely do. But volleyball is traditionally played on a hardwood gym floor court or a sand court.

Gotcha. Now, I know what a ball is.

Ow! Whoops! Sorry, Uncle Trustee. I was practicing my serve.

If you were aiming for my face, you are doing great! Anyway, as I was saying, I know what a ball is, but what is a volley? Do you know, smartypants?

That’s easy! The volley part of volleyball refers to team members hitting the ball before it hits the floor.

round. The idea is to use your arms and hands to hit the ball over the net and then the other team tries to do the same thing. Each team only gets three hits to get it back over the net and you can’t hit it twice in a row by yourself.

So you can pass it or set up your teammate twice and then the third hit has to go over the net. Gotcha. Let me try. Set me up. I said over the net, not into it.

I know, I know, I need more.

Good thing this is just a fun game of beach volleyball and not the Olympic Games!

Speaking of smarty pants, when was volleyball added to the Olympic Games? Was it A, 1896, B, 1964, or C, 1996?

If you said B, 1964, you’re right! Volleyball was added to the Olympic Games in the 1964 Summer Olympics, which took place in Tokyo, Japan. It’s been an official sport of the Summer Olympics ever since.

Remember that I made a volleyball shaped meat cake to celebrate

Since volleyball is an Olympic sport, it must be pretty popular worldwide, right?

It sure is! Did you know Volleyball is the fifth most popular sport in the world, coming in behind soccer, cricket, field hockey, and…

It’s tennis! Smarty Pants, do you think this sport of volleyball is more popular among men or women?

The answer is women. It’s reported that 900 million women and girls play volleyball worldwide, and that women make up 78% of all volleyball players, while men make up 22%. Say it with me. Whoa.

Nice. Now, while volleyball was introduced to the Olympics in 1964, it had been around a lot longer than that. Smarty pants, any idea who invented volleyball, and when or where? Yep, I have no idea.

either. I’ll make it!

A man named William G. Morgan invented volleyball in 1895 at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The story goes he wanted to create a game that needed more players and less space than basketball.

All. More players in less space? Sounds crowded.

Yes and no. Volleyball is played on a court that is 59 and a half feet, or 18 meters long, and 29 and a half feet, or 9 meters wide. Oh!

That’s pretty big. That’s longer than half the basketball court and just over half his wife But how many people play volleyball at a time?

The number of people playing depends on the kind of volleyball you’re playing. Indoor volleyball teams have six players per side or team, while beach volleyball teams have two players on each side. Oh, and because there’s less players, beach volleyball courts are a little smaller.

Gotcha. And the game starts with the serve, unless I’m serving.

Yes, a player standing just outside the back corner of the court serves the ball over the net and then the volleying begins.

And how do you keep score? By counting points, duh!

I know that, but how does the scoring work in volleyball?

Relax! I was just kidding! Tell him, Wogum!

Similar to tennis, volleyball matches are played in sets. Each set usually goes up to 25 points and have to be won by two or more points. High school and college volleyball matches are the best of five sets, but some matches and recreational volleyball are usually best of three sets.

Right now, Team Meatcake is ahead of Team Pizza Bagels. Really? I didn’t think we’d started playing yet. What do you mean? That serving to the net you did before counts as a point for us!

Really? Smarty Pants, is Grandma Meatcake right? True or false? You can only score a point if your team is serving. The answer is…

There was a time when only the serving team could score a point, but that made the game take a lot longer, so they changed the rule to what they call rally scoring.

Yep, and now you can score a point whether you’re serving or not. And, when you score a point, you get to serve for the next point.

Sounds good, but for those who don’t know, what is serving again?

It’s when I bring you a big platter of meat cake. Lunch is served. Um, I don’t know.

think that’s it. Serving is when a player hits the ball over the net. Ooh, that’s another point for Team WoCake.

Really, I wasn’t even ready. Yeah, and I was eating some delicious meat cake.

Whatever. This is just for fun and to learn about volleyball. Now, for our beach game, there’s just two people on each side. But for volleyball played indoors on a hardwood court, there’s six players per side.

Does that mean there are different positions on a volleyball team? What do you think, smarty pants? You know what I think? I think we’re going to find out right after this quick break and a word from our sponsors.

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Ow!

Right in the face, again! Sorry, Uncle Trusty. My serve has gotten much better, faster, and more accurate.

my face agrees with you. Anyway, we were going to talk about the positions on a volleyball team. Smarty Pants, are there positions on a volleyball team? The answer is!

Yes! Starting with the server, of course. Next, there’s the libero. Libero? What’s a libero?

Well, that’s the player who bumps the ball. I see, but I don’t understand. Smarty Pants, do you know what bumping the ball means? Does it mean bumping into the ball like my face has been doing all day?

No, Uncle Trustee. It’s when you hit the ball with your forearms. Like this.

Whoa, nice bump, low girl. Next comes the setter. The dog? No, not the dog. The setter uses the second hit to put the ball in position like this. Into position for what? For the attacker to do this.

Ow! That’s another point for us!

Do all these points have to be so painful? Also, did you say attack me?

Yep, the attacker is a player positioned near the front of the court, right in front of the net, who jumps up and slams the ball over the net, which is called a…

A what, smarty pants? A hike? A strike? Or a spike?

If you said a spike, you’re right! In volleyball, a spike is a hard, downward hit over the net that’s very hard for the other team to return!

Ow! Could you at least try hitting the other side of my face?

Sorry, Uncle Trustee.

Only there was some way to block the spike.

Actually, there is. When an attacker goes for a spike, players on the other team, called blockers, will jump up to try and stop the attack. But if the ball is not blocked, a passer is ready to dig the ball.

Okay, I was with you, but then you lost me again. What is this digging? Is the ball going to be spiked so hard that it gets buried in the sand? My turn!

No, no, no, trusty. In volleyball, a dig means stopping the ball from hitting the ground after it’s been spiked. Usually you have to get down real low and get your hands or forearms under the ball. Ahh, now I have to.

get it you dig I dig and just so we’re clear how do you score a point so far it seems like the way to score points is to hit me in the face with the ball

Like that! Not quite, Uncle Trusty. While hitting you in the face can lead to points, the real object is to hit the ball over the net in such a way that the other team can’t return it.

But there are several ways to score points. If the opposing team can’t return the ball in three hits, that’s a point. If the ball is grounded or hits the ground, that’s a point. If the ball is returned but lands out of bounds, that’s also a point.

And if you serve the ball and it doesn’t go over the net or lands out of bounds, that’s also a point.

Wow, there sure are a lot of ways to score loose points.

True, but so far spiking it off your face seems to be the most effective one for us.

Ow, I feel like I should be wearing some kind of face shield. Speaking of, is there any special equipment volleyball players need to wear? What do you think, smarty pants?

Volleyball players wear knee pads to keep their knees safe when they die for the ball, and special shoes to help them move easily. Also, many volleyball players tape up a part of their body to prevent injuries.

their faces?

No, they’re fingers! This helps protect your fingers from all the hitting, setting, digging, and spiking you do with your hands.

Ah, makes sense. Not that I’ll be doing much spiking. That net is pretty high. Smartypants, any guess how tall a volleyball net is? Is it 6 feet, 7 feet, or 8 feet tall?

The answer is 7 feet or 2 .1 meters tall and it stretches across the entire court.

Is the ball always the same?

Yes, and no. Volleyballs come in different colors, sizes, and materials, and different balls are used for beach or indoor volleyball. But the average weight of a volleyball is around 9 ounces. Eh, that’s it.

how much it can of soda waste.

Oh, and trusty narrator takes another volleyball to the kisser! Down goes trusty! Sorry!

It could be worse. It could have been a can of soda. A special shout -out to my Spotify crew, who have been clamoring for a volleyball episode for months. There’s Emily, who loves girls’ volleyball, her pal M &M, megafan Elizabeth from Utah, gymnastics girl, superfan Eva from Los Angeles, Atticus, Chi -Chi, Lachlan, and Ainsley, Abby and Patrick, Georgia, who wants food episodes, Carolyn in Canada,

and Lee Shee from Ireland. Thanks for leaving us such great comments on Spotify, and I hope you all enjoyed today’s episode. This episode, Volleyball, was written by Sarah, BigServeSweetiek, and voiced by Gia, Dig It Out, Davis, Adam, Spikes Davis, and Jerry Colburn.

Technical direction and sound design by Josh, Big Hit, Han. Our associate producer is Max Crosscourt -Komaski. The theme song is by Brian, Bumpset, Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Text Davis.

Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Text Davis and Jerry Colburn. This has been an atomic entertainment production.

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