It has been an Olympic sport since the 1996 Summer Olympics. The players serve in the same sequence throughout the match, changing server each time a rally is won by the receiving team.īeach volleyball most likely originated in 1915 on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, while the modern two-player game originated in Santa Monica, California, where the first volleyball courts were put up on the beach. The team that wins the rally scores a point and serves to start the following rally. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes 'out', or a fault is made in the attempt to return the ball. Meanwhile, the team on defense typically has a blocker at the net and a defender to cover the ground. The receiving team typically uses their three touches to pass the ball, set it up for an attack, and then attack the ball by sending it back over the net. The ball is put in play with a serve-a hit by the server from behind the rear court boundary over the net to the opponents. Making a block touch leaves only two more touches before the ball must be hit over. Teams are allowed up to three touches to return the ball across the net, and individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively except after a touch off an attempted block. Each team also works in unison to prevent the opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court. The blocker (left) attempts to stop the opposing team's attack over the net.īeach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net.

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