COMPETITIONS

Cups

British Colleges Sport runs National Cups for Men's, Women's and Mixed Volleyball at a non-elite level throughout the season. Plate competitions are also available to those colleges who aren't successful in the first 2 rounds of the Men's and Women's Cup. These competitions lead into a National Final which sees the top 2 teams from the competition, competing for the winning title.

To view the Volleyball Cup and Plate fixtures for the 2011/12 season please visit our fixtures and results page.

Regional Tournaments & National Championships

BCS also run Regional Tournaments and National Championships that are open to all FE Colleges, providing them a chance to compete for their region. The Men's and Women's Volleyball are one of the many sporting events that take place over the weekend.  

FE Colleges have the opportunity to represent their region in the National Championships run by British Colleges Sport.  Please visit:  http://champs.bcsport.org - our micro site which covers all things in relation to our Regional and National championships events.

THE ORIGINS OF VOLLEYBALL

William G. Morgan (1870-1942), who was born in the State of New York, has gone down in history as the inventor of the game of volleyball, to which he originally gave the name of "Mintonette".

The young Morgan carried out his undergraduate studies at the Springfield College of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he met James Naismith who, in 1891, had invented basketball. After graduating, Morgan spent his first year at the Auburn (Maine) YMCA after which, during the summer of 1895, he moved to the YMCA at Holyoke (Massachusetts) where he became Director of Physical Education. In this role he had the opportunity to establish develop, and direct a vast programme of exercises and sport classes for male adults.

His leadership was enthusiastically accepted, and his classes grew in numbers. He came to realise that he needed a certain type of competitive recreational game in order to vary his programme. Basketball, which sport was beginning to develop, seemed to suit young people, but it was necessary to find a less violent and less intense alternative for the older members.

Early in 1896 a conference was organized at the YMCA College in Springfield, bringing together all the YMCA Directors of Physical Education. Dr Luther Halsey Gulick, Director of the professional physical education training school (and also Executive Director of the Department of Physical Education of the International Committee of YMCA's) invited Morgan to make a demonstration of his game in the new college stadium.

After seeing the demonstration, and hearing the explanation of Morgan, Professor Alfred T. Halstead called attention to the action, or the act phase, of the ball's flight, and proposed that the name "Mintonette" be replaced by "Volley Ball". This name was accepted by Morgan and the conference.

Mr Morgan explained the rules and worked on them, then gave a hand-written copy to the conference of YMCA directors of physical education, as a guide for the use and development of the game. A committee was appointed to study the rules and produce suggestions for the game's promotion and teaching.

A brief report on the new game and its rules was published in the July 1896 edition of "Physical Education" and the rules were included in the 1897 edition of the first official handbook of the North American YMCA Athletic League.