大象传媒

Volleyball is over a hundred years old. The sport, which originated in the US, is now said to have 800 million players worldwide who play at least once a week.

In 1895, (two years after the invention of basketball) William G. Morgan, an instructor at the Young Men鈥檚 Christian Association in Holyoke, Mass, came up with the idea for the sport.

He decided to blend elements of tennis, basketball, baseball and handball to create a game for his classes of businessmen which would demand less physical contact than basketball.

The game was called 鈥淢intonette.鈥� He used the bladder of the basketball to provide a lighter ball with a more lively bounce and borrowed a tennis net and raised it 6 feet 6 inches above the ground.

During the game, someone remarked to Morgan, that the players seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth and perhaps 鈥淰olleyball,鈥� would be a better name for the game. On July 7th in 1896 the first Volleyball game was played at Springfield College and in 1900 a special ball was designed to take the sport further in its history.

Beach volleyball

For the first time ever beach volleyball is being included in the Island Games.

Beach volleyball evolved from traditional volleyball with the most important differences being that instead of six in a team there's just two and, unsurprisingly with 'beach' in the title, it's played on sand.

Games format

Indoor volleyball is being played in the Petaloudon Indoor Hall and the Diagoras Indoor Hall.

Beach volleyball is played within the Kalipatira Sports Complex.

Both competitions will see the islands divided into two groups. The top two in each group will meet in the semi-finals, and the winners of those semis will meet in the final to decide Gold and Silver medals.

The losing semi-finalists play for the Bronze, and there will be a series of play-offs to decide final positions.