Humble Beginnings (1895-1930)

As was included in the summary of this exhibit, the sport of Volleyball was properly introduced by William Morgan in 1895. The sport was created so that individuals who found basketball to strenuous or physical had a competitive activity that they could participate in more comfortably. In its earliest stages it was also a sport that largely borrowed aspects of other sports. The net was initially a heightened tennis net, the ball was from basketball, and the idea of innings which would later be called sets was transferred from baseball.

Before considering the items in this gallery, it is important to consider that rules of the sport were still at a very elementary level. For example, rules surrounding a maximum of player touches were not used until the 1930s which are a cornerstone for the sport as we see today. Strategy was also very elementary, with only a few instances where players were beginning to revolutionize the sport, like through jump serves or distinctly "setting" the ball for another player on the team. 

This is important to consider because it identifies why the equipment used for the sport were either borrowed from other sports or were not much of a consideration at all. It wasn't until the next era of volleyball that we saw an introduction of equipment designed with volleyballs specific movements in mind. 

The following items of this subsection were some of the first examples of material culture in volleyball. They include the elementary designs of important parts of the sport which had not undergone proper consideration in relation to the movements necessary to correctly participate. Examples of this include clothing for uniforms which failed to consider frequent movement, contributing to a very recreational perception of the sport. 

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Bibliography

"Evolution of Volleyball Uniforms" 1953kiss, November 21, 2022, Timetoast.com, https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/evolution-of-volleyball-uniforms

"History of Volleyball" Volleyball.com, November 22, 2022

"The History of Volleyball" Volleyballadvisors.com, November 23, 2022, https://www.volleyballadvisors.com/volleyball-newsletter.html

"Volleyball" Cgtrader.com/gallery, November 24, 2022

Worker, Miley. "Volleyball History", Timetoast.ca, November 22, 2022, https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/volleyball-history-496a2a17-8d73-4375-aa32-96b5a96a704e