#365volley facts - January

The info campaign #365volley continues! Every day we will post interesting facts from the volleyball world, for 1 year, on our Facebook page. The materials have been researched by the international volunteers Alexandra (Portugal), Azer (Azerbaijan) and Alejandro (Spain) and prepared by Andreea (Romania). Follow us on Facebook to find out more about its history, variations, playing rules and more about this world!

Here are the January facts!

1. Hoover-ball is basically a combination of tennis, volleyball and medicine ball (a weighted ball roughly the diameter of the shoulders, often used for rehabilitation and strength training).

Happy New Year everybody!

2. Hoover-ball was played by teams of 2-4 players with a six-pound medicine ball over a net eight feet high on a court similar to the one used for tennis. The server throws the ball. The opponent must catch it on the fly and immediately return it, attempting to put it where it cannot be reached and returned. The side that misses the ball or throws it out of bounds loses the point.

3. In Hooverball, women are governed by a different regulation, since it takes into account the possibility that there may be more difficulty for some of them due to the weight of the ball. For example, women take off from the midfield line and can return the ball to any area of ​​the opponent's court. And unlike the men who must return the ball at the first touch, women can pass the ball to a partner before throwing it to the opposite field.

4. The average age of the participants was 53. Players would dress in flannel shirts, old trousers, sweaters or leather jackets, rubber-soled shoes, and often, hats.

5. The popularity of Hoover-ball lasted only as long as the presidency of Hoover. Although the USA still holds Hoover-Ball national championships, in cooperation with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association.

6. The longest marathon playing volleyball (indoors) lasted 85 hr and was achieved by members of SVU Volleyball (Netherlands) at the Sports Centre Uilenstede in Amstelveen, the Netherlands on 27 to 30 December 2011. The sides played a total of 63 matches, consisting of 338 sets and 14,635 total points scored.

7. Proper technique requires the use of the whole body when throwing the medicine ball, not just the arms. One is called the body twist: The player holds the ball with both hands a little below the waist. Next, the player bends their knees slightly. To make the throw, the player twists a little more and at the same time pushes with their legs and throws with their arms. This can be a quick, off the hip throw.

8. Trebuchet is another technique in hoover-ball: The player holds the ball in one hand and fully extends their elbow off to the side of their body. To make the throw the player "cocks" their arm back while keeping the elbow straight, then takes a step forward, twists and releases the ball.

9. The rules of Hooverball have not been modified at all since its invention, that is, today the original regulations are used.

10. If there are more than 4 players in each team, there must be two medicinal balls in play at all times, which complicates the game but also makes it more dynamic.

11. Sepak Takraw is another sport similar to volleyball. It’s a sport played all throughout Southeast Asia and it is also known as kick volleyball. Sepak takraw uses a rattan ball, and the players only use their feet, knee, chest, and head to touch the ball.

12. This sport dates back to the 15th century, it was believed to have been developed by the Malacca Sultanate. The modern version of sepak takraw is fiercely competitive and began taking shape in Thailand almost 200 years ago. In 1829, the Siam Sports Association drafted the first rules for the game. Four years later, the association introduced the volleyball-style net and held the first public contest.

13. The average volleyball players jump about 300 times during a match. This is easy to do when you add in the jumping for blocking and spiking.

14. takraw may be played indoors or outdoors like at the beach. The taking serves the ball. Once the ball is served, the players are allowed to move freely. Using the hands is not permitted, and each player can touch the ball only once before it is hit over the net. The ball can be returned over the net using any part of the body except for the arm from the shoulder to the point of the finger.

15. Before it was officially called sepak takraw in 1960, the sport was known by different names in different countries: in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, it's called 'sepak raga', whereas in Thailand it's commonly known as 'takraw'. The same game goes by the name of 'sipa' in the Philippines, 'da cau' in Vietnam, 'rago' in Indonesia, and 'kator' in Laos.

16. The governing body for sepak takraw is the ISTAF - International Sepak Takraw Federation, formed in 1988.

17. One of the goals of the Federation is to make it an Olympic sport, and for that will need to spread Sepaktakraw into 75 different countries around the globe, as this is one of the requirements of the International Olympic Council.

18. The ISTAF currently has 31 national associations under its membership, 23 from Asia, 3 from North America, 2 from South America and 3 from Europe.

19. In 1990, sepak takraw was included at the Asian Games in Beijing. Women also got in on the action with the first women's championships in Thailand hosted in 1997. Sepak takraw was also introduced as a demonstration sport at the 2009 World Games in Chinese Taipei.

20. Volleyball is the second most popular sport, second only to soccer. This is due to the fact that volleyball is open to be played from middle school, high school, college, professional, and Olympic levels.

21. Jokgu is a Korean sport which resembles a mix of football and volleyball, was developed by the Republic of Korea Air Force in 1960 as a way to promote exercise on military bases. Sometimes expresses the style of various martial arts movements.

22. Jokgu is very popular in Korea, with over one thousand teams in professional, school, & military leagues. It is also one of the most common ways to pass time in the military.

23. A jokgu match is played between 2 teams with 4 players on each team. The ball used has a 20 cm diameter, which is slightly smaller than the ball used for volleyball.

24. It can be played indoors or outdoors. The rules are similar to volleyball, but only your feet, shin and head may have contact with the ball. Each team is allowed a maximum of three touches, and the ball has to be returned to the opposing team on the third touch

25. Jokgu was one of the sports that were premiered at the 1st Annual Leisure Games in Chuncheon, Korea in 2010. Plus, countries with large populations of Koreans such as the US and Canada have Jokgu leagues so the National Team gets plenty of chances to play

26. There is a movie from 2013 called King of Jokgu. If you want to learn a little more about it you can watch the show “Cool Kidz on Block” where Jokgu is one of the games they learn, and then they challenge teams to see how well they’ve learned the game.

27. Every week in the United States approximately 46 million people play volleyball. Worldwide this number is 800 million players a week.

28. There are not particular positions while playing a game of Jokgu, unless a special strategy is planned.

29. When professional players play Jokgu, players plan their positions in different areas in the court. There are four main places where player stays, Left Defender, Right Defender, Setter and Spiker.

30. The word jokgu is derived from the Chinese characters for foot (“jok”) and ball (“gu”), and considering how many versions of “football” are already vying for global dominance, it may be easier to remember in Korean.

31. You cannot find many websites about leagues and teams in other parts of the world, but there is a possibility that Jokgu will be accepted as an Olympic sport.

#365volley #EUvolleyballScience #EUsolidarityCorps #ErasmusPlus