The complete set of rules is extensive,[2] but play essentially proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court.

[4] A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking (because those plays are made above the top of the net, the vertical jump is an athletic skill emphasized in the sport) as well as passing, setting, and specialized player positions.

[5] William G. Morgan invented the sport in 1895 while he was the YMCA physical education director in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Hitting the ball into the net was considered a foul (with loss of the point or a side-out)—except in the case of the first-try serve.

[9] After an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896, played at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College), the game quickly became known as volleyball (it was originally spelled as two words: "volley ball").

Volleyball rules were slightly modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various YMCAs.

[12] During and after World War I, the presence of YMCA instructors in American forces led to the spread of volleyball in Europe, where clubs were established in France as well as several Soviet nations.

[8] An international federation, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), was founded in 1947, and the first World Championships were held in 1949 for men and 1952 for women.

[21] The team courts are surrounded by an area called the free zone which is a minimum of 3 meters wide and which the players may enter and play within after the service of the ball.

The game continues in this manner, rallying back and forth until the ball touches the court within the boundaries or until an error is made.

A standard competitive volleyball match is played in a best-of-five sets format and typically goes on for about 90 minutes.

Most high schools in the U.S. changed to rally scoring in 2003,[28][29][30] and several states implemented it the previous year on an experimental basis.

Also, the service area was expanded to allow players to serve from anywhere behind the end line but still within the theoretical extension of the sidelines.

[2] Competitive teams master six basic skills: serve, pass, set, attack, block and dig.

[3] Each of the skills consitsts of a number of specific techniques which have been introduced over the years and are now considered standard practice in high-level volleyball.

The main objective is to make it land inside the court; it is also desirable to set the ball's direction, speed and acceleration so that it becomes difficult for the receiver to handle it properly.

Proper handling includes not only preventing the ball from touching the court but also making it reach the position where the setter is standing quickly and precisely.

Sometimes a setter refrains from raising the ball for a teammate to perform an attack and tries to play it directly onto the opponent's court.

[3] If one hand is noticeably late to touch the ball this could result in a less effective set, as well as the referee calling a 'double hit' and giving the point to the opposing team.

The hitter uses arm swing, wrist snap, and a rapid forward contraction of the entire body to drive the ball.

[3] A 'bounce' is a slang term for a very hard/loud spike that follows an almost straight trajectory steeply downward into the opponent's court and bounces very high into the air.

A well-executed offensive block is performed by jumping and reaching to penetrate with one's arms and hands over the net and into the opponent's area.

By contrast, it is called a defensive, or "soft" block if the goal is to control and deflect the hard-driven ball up so that it slows down and becomes easier to defend.

A well-executed soft-block is performed by jumping and placing one's hands above the net with no penetration into the opponent's court and with the palms up and fingers pointing backwards.

A player may sometimes perform a "dive", i.e., throw their body in the air with a forward movement in an attempt to save the ball, and land on their chest.

Volleyball is essentially a game of transition from one of the above skills to the next, with choreographed team movement between plays on the ball.

Offensive systems are the formations used by the offence to attempt to ground the ball into the opposing court (or otherwise score points).

Most often, the situation involves a team using a right-side player with a big block who must be subbed out in the back row because they are not able to effectively play backcourt defence.

Back-row attacks generally come from the back-right position, known as zone 1, but are increasingly performed from back-centre in high-level play.

There is another advantage, the same as that of a 4–2 formation: as a front-row player the setter is allowed to jump and "dump" the ball onto the opponent's side.