In 1895 William Morgan invented the sport of volleyball to provide the less athletic and older male members of the YMCA with a sport that required a lower level of athleticism and effort. His intent was to give them an opportunity to participate in an activity that wasn’t as rough and rigorous as basketball. In his initial demonstration of the sport, Morgan played on a 6’6″ net with 5 players on each team.
In 1900, Spalding produced the first ball specific to the sport. Twenty years later the 3-hit and back row attack rules were put in place. Volleyball was first played as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo summer games in 1964. Since then the popularity of the sport has increased dramatically because of Title IX, which was passed in 1972. Today about 23% of adolescent girls play volleyball on an organized team.
Data produced by the National Sporting Goods Association shows that about 60% of the players are women and the majority of participants are younger players. When a comparison is made between the age categories for volleyball and all sports and leisure activities, it is evident volleyball participation drops off when players reaches their 30s.
In fact, 41.8% of players are between the ages of 7 and 17 and another 18.4% are between 18 and 24. Combined, slightly more than 60% of players are under the age of 25. At the other end of the spectrum only 4.3% of all volleyball players are 55 years or older.
The remainder, 35.5%, are between the ages of 25 and 54 years.
If William Morgan was alive today, he probably wouldn’t recognize the sport he invented and the demographics of its participants, but given the sport’s popularity and its original intent, that is probably a good thing.
