1899 - Volleyball - The New Game for Girls

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April 23, 1899, Sunday - The San Francisco Call

“Volley ball is the game par excellence for girls and young women. It is a new game and meets all the requirements for exercise and physical culture.”

So said Miss Walker, instructor in physical training at the Girls’ High School, a few days ago. At the time the big gymnasium was filled with strong handsome girls clad in bloomer costumes. All were in a quiver of excitement, for they were to take their first lesson in volley ball. Miss Walker has just returned from the East, where the game has a firm foothold. She saw it played at both Wellesley and Smith colleges and became thoroughly versed in the game, seeing its advantages and knowing that it would surely prove of benefit to the girls of San Francisco.

“What’s the new game like?” asked several of the girls crowding around.

“I’ll show you when we get down in the yard,” answered Miss Walker, “but to put it briefly it is a sort of composite between basket ball and tennis. A large net is stretched across the field, but raised about two feet from the ground. A ball about the size of a football is used. First the two teams of girls range themselves on either side of the net. The ball is then started by being batted with the hand so that it flies across the net. The trick of the game is then to keep the ball from hitting the ground or knocking it into your net. Unless your side knocks it across the net there is a score against you and a point for the other side.”

“Why, that’s easy,” say a dozen voices in chorus.

“But, say, I believe it will be lots of fun,” whispered a pretty golden-haired maiden to her partner. “I am just crazy to start.”…

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” one of the players said to another, “but it’s lots nicer than basket-ball.” And so the lesson proceeded. Before half an hour had passed the girls were able to serve and return the ball with the greatest ease, and certainly got a large amount of exercise out of the play, for their cheeks were glowing and their eyes sparkling with the pleasure of good health.

“Now,” said Miss Walker, when the girls were fully acquainted with the game, “the method of playing is this: In serving the ball the player stands four feet from the net on what is called the ‘dribbling’ line. She tosses the ball into the air and gives it a quick, decisive bat, which sends it flying over to the other side. It is then batted back. The side which allows it to touch the ground is scored against.”

Any number of girls may play, so long as they are evenly distributed on each side. The most satisfactory thing about the game is the absence of roughness as in basket ball. No tumbling over one another on the floor in reaching for the ball is possible, as the moment it touches the floor a certain number of points is lost to the side permitting it. The girls take readily to this new form of gymnastics, and the “Atalanta” Club, which had become depleted, is filling up again…

Miss Walker’s pleasure is supreme at seeing the girls so apt at the new game. She says: “It is much more agreeable to teach volley ball than basket ball, as there is no danger of any girl getting hurt. This game is just as beneficial and much prettier than the other. It is especially adapted to them, as it contains those elements of skill, agility and deftness not to be found elsewhere. The frequent poising of the whole body on the ball of one foot, and other positions which I might mention, engender a remarkable grace and dignity in the figure.

“I do hope that before long other schools and colleges will lay aside their basket ball for volley. As it is now we can only play among ourselves, for we are the only school out here that knows anything about it. The beneficial exercise which exists in a game of ball cannot be equaled by any other kind of gymnastics.

“Chest weights I consider very injurious to beginners. They should be used only by those who fully understand posture concepts, or the proper position of the body, as without this knowledge the devotee is sure to develop lopsidedness.

“Under any circumstances chest developers, dumbbells or Indian clubs should be used as little as possible. Their disadvantage is in developing the muscles of the chest near the arms at the expense of those of the back. In ball or other games the pleasurable excitement aids the respiratory and circulatory organs, besides hardening and beautifying the muscles, thereby producing the proper threefold development of the body.”

Exercepted from: "Daughters of the Lost Century"

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