On this day in history, February 9, 1895 a game called ‘Mintonette’ was invented. The game today is better known as ‘volleyball.’

The game was invented by William G. Morgan the YMCA athletic director in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Morgan was intrigued by the new game ‘basketball’ that was invented about 4 years earlier and only 9 miles away in Springfield, Mass.

He borrowed ideas from a few different sports, such as tennis, handball, baseball, and badminton to make volleyball. He also used the inside bladder of a basketball as the first volleyball.

Volleyball quickly spread in popularity throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Philippines, among others, and was soon spread throughout Europe largely thanks to troops from North America playing it during WWI.

Volleyball was originally demonstrated in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, but not played as an official sport until in 1964. Beach volleyball wasn’t added to the Olympics until 1996.

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