Volleyball 2: International Growth
Meanwhile, volleyball had become very popular in Eastern Europe. The first national governing bodies were established in 1922, in Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. The first important match in Russia was played in 1923, between the State Cinema Technical School and the High Art and Theatre Workshop.
Volleyball was a demonstration sport at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, leading to its introduction into the Netherlands. In 1929, governing bodies were organized in Japan and China. Both of those countries allowed nine players on a team.
Volleyball was introduced to many Latin American countries at the 1929 Caribbean and Central American Games in Cuba, which used the U. S. rules. The Soviet Union held its first national tournament in 1933 and played the first series of international matches against Afghanistan two years later.
During World War II, volleyball was again recommended as recreation and physical training for American forces. Servicemen set up courts in camps all over the world, introducing the sport to millions of people.
Almost immediately after the war, efforts began to establish an international federation. The Czech, French and Polish national governing bodies met in August of 1946 to create an organizing commission to conduct a European or world championship.
Fourteen European federations founded the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) in April of 1947. The first FIVB rules set the court at 9 by 18 meters, with the height of the net at 2.43 meters for men and 2.24 meters for women.
The first European championship, staged by the FIVB in 1948, was won by Czechoslovakia. The following year, the Soviet Union won the first world men's championship. The USVB held its first women's championship tournament in 1949 and the FIVB followed suit in 1952.
China, Japan, and most other Asian countries were still playing with nine players to a side, on a slightly smaller court with a slightly lower net. In 1955, the Japanese federation agreed to use the FIVB rules and to help persuade other Asian federations to go along with them, as well. Tokyo hosted the first Asian championships that year, for both six-player and nine-player teams.
The move to adopt FIVB rules was given additional impetus by the International Olympic Committee's announcement, in 1957, that men's and women's volleyball would be added to the 1964 Olympic program.
While the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other Eastern European countries dominated international volleyball in the beginning, the Japanese women's emerged in the 1960s, winning the 1962 and 1967 world championships and the first Olympic Gold Medal, in 1964.
Since then, Cuba and China have also become major powers in women's volleyball, and Italy has won the last three world men's championships.
Ironically, the United States, where volleyball was created, wasn't a factor in international play for many years. The main reason was that, while volleyball was a popular recreational sport, it wasn't played at a high competitive level.
That began to change in 1970, when the NCAA instituted its national collegiate volleyball championship. Women's volleyball also became a championship sport in 1981.
U. S. men won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1984, when the Soviet Union and other Communist bloc countries boycotted the Los Angeles Games, and they won the 1986 world championship. They finished third in 1994. The women's team placed second at the 1967 world championships, also boycotted by most European countries, and finished third in 1982 and 1990.
As spectators, though, Americans are generally more interested in beach volleyball, which is widely televised and attracts many top players.