Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964. Beach volleyball was introduced to the programme at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics. The adapted version of volleyball at the Summer Paralympic Games is sitting volleyball.
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court. Each team also works in unison to prevent the opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court.
Wheelchair rugby is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practiced in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport.
Footvolley is a sport that combines aspects of beach volleyball and association football.
Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball with bells embedded inside it into the opponents' goal. The ball is thrown by hand and never kicked. Using ear-hand coordination, originating as a rehabilitation exercise, the sport has no able-bodied equivalent. Sighted athletes are also blindfolded when playing this sport.
A drop shot is a shot in some racket sports in which the ball is hit relatively softly, sometimes with topspin or backspin, so that it lands just over and close to the net. A well-placed and well-timed drop shot will make it difficult for the opposing player to hit an aggressive or offensive shot in return. The most successful drop shots will not allow the opponent to hit the ball back at all.
Fistball is a sport of European origin, primarily played in the German-speaking nations of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Brazil. The objective of the game is similar to volleyball, in that teams try to hit a ball over a net, but the rules vary from volleyball in several major ways. The current men's fistball World Champions are Germany, winners of both the 2023 Men's World Championships and the fistball category at the 2022 World Games, while the current women's fistball World Champions are also Germany, after winning the 2021 Women's World Championships.
This is a list of the more common English volleyball jargon terms:
Several sports related to volleyball have become popular. Indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are both events at the Olympics, and sitting volleyball is an event at the Paralympics. Other varieties are localized, or are played at an amateur or informal level.
Bossaball is a team sport that originated in Brazil and was conceptualised by Belgian Filip Eyckmans in 2004. Bossaball is a ball game between two teams, combining elements of volleyball, football, and gymnastics with music into a sport. It is played on an inflatable court featuring a trampoline on each side of the net. The trampolines allow the players to bounce high enough to spike the ball over the net.
Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Paralympics was held in the China Agricultural University Gymnasium from 7 September to 15 September. Two sitting volleyball team events were held, one for men and one for women.
World ParaVolley, formerly the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD), is an international organization that is for people with physical disabilities. It is affiliated with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The World Organization Volleyball for Disabled was established in 1981 and was part of the International Sports Organization for Disabled (ISOD). In 1992 the WOVD became its own separate Organization in Barcelona, Spain. The WOVD Headquarters were also established in the Netherlands. The WOVD is responsible for managing and controlling the conduct of international volleyball competitions for men, women and youth. The WOVD also liaises with IPC (as an independent organisation) and with other organizations for people with or without disabilities. The organization adopted its present name World ParaVolley at its 2014 general assembly.
The history of volleyball in the Philippines refers to the history of volleyball in the Philippines as a recreation and as a sport. Philippine volleyball history began in 1910 when the Philippines was a United States territory (1898–1946). The Filipinos have made significant contributions to volleyball in its evolution as a professional and international game. The Filipinos continued playing volleyball up to the modern-day period in its status as an independent republic (1946–present).
VolleySLIDE is the Sitting Volleyball world educational programme by World ParaVolley, the international federation responsible for all forms of ParaVolley. It is aimed at driving the development of the sport, in line with the Paralympic Movement and global society expectations. World ParaVolley (formerly known as World Organisation Volleyball for Disabled is a member of International Paralympic Committee and adopted VolleySLIDE back in February 2014.
The Iran men's national sitting volleyball team represents the Islamic Republic of Iran in international sitting volleyball competitions and friendly matches. The team is one of the dominant forces on the court worldwide. In foreign media, team Iran is colloquially known as the dream team of sitting volleyball.
Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, often referred to as Morteza Mehrzad, is an Iranian volleyball player who plays on the Iran men's national sitting volleyball team. With a height of 247 cm, he also holds the record for the longest hand in the world with a size of 29 cm. He is known as the tallest living man in Iran and the second tallest living man in the world. He won three gold medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, 2020 Summer Paralympics and 2024 Summer Paralympics, is two-time World Para Volleyball champion, three-time gold medalist at the Asian Games with Iran men's national sitting volleyball team, and three-time winner of the Golden Ball award for the best player.
Snow volleyball is a winter team sport played by two teams of three players on a snow court divided by a net. The objective of each team is to score points by sending a ball over the net so as to ground it on the opponent's court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent. A team is allowed up to three touches to return the ball across the net, and individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively.
Iran competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. This was their ninth consecutive appearance at the Summer Paralympics since 1988.
This glossary provides definitions and context for terminology related to, and jargon specific to, the sport of pickleball. Words or phrases in italics can be found on the list in their respective alphabetic sections.
The 2023 Sitting Volleyball European Championships – Men's event was the 21th edition of this tournament. For the first time, the competition was held in Caorle, Italy. The winners qualify for the 2024 Summer Paralympics. The defending champions are Bosnia and Herzegovina. They successfully defended their title after defeating Germany, 3–2, in the final.
