Rising Interest (1940-1970)

Following the initial years of volleyball, around the midway mark of the 20th century, volleyball saw a rising surge of interest, in addition to a variety of new strategies.

During this period, we saw the introduction of national competitions of both court and beach volleyball. One of the most monumental introductions to volleyball came in 1947 when the Federation Internationale De Volleyball (FIVB) was created. The FIVB, much like soccer's FIFA, governed the many international tournaments for the sport with the first occurring in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Today the FIVB still runs international tournaments every four years. In 2022, Italy won the Men's FIVB title, while Serbia won the Women's.

Although Beach volleyball would not be included in the Olympics until 1996, there were tournaments with prize pools being held on the beaches of California as early as the 1940s. It was also a popular form of the sport in the Second World War as naval bases would play the sport with locals during downtime. 

The 1960s was perhaps one of the most innovative decades for the sport, seeing the introduction of several new strategies in volleyball. Quick sets, bumping, tipping are a few of the new technique's teams acquired in this period in efforts to increase the strategy in volleyball.

Equipment also began to match the growing competitive nature behind the sport as we see the introduction of moer athletic uniforms for women and men.

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Bibliography

"1940s Mens Volleyball at Verdugo Park", Burbank Public Library, November 23rd, calispheer.org.

"Inagural Volleyball games at 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan", FIVB Volleyball, December 20th, https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/400187116859334068/

Metras, John F. "Women's Volleyball" Sports Museum.

"Middlebury College Volleyball team" Internet Archive, 1940.

Ramsier, Lewis. "What is A Volleyball Quick Attack", November 26th, 2022, setupforvolleyball.com.

USA Volleyball, November 26th, https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/237001999115301141/