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 Is It Mintonette or Volleyball?

Is It Mintonette or Volleyball?
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.28

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    demonstration, curriculum, better, mobile, offense, popularity, original, goal, government, education, satisfactory, appeal, during, physical, contact, active
     content words:    William G., Springfield College, South America, Puerto Rico, Philippine Islands, National Collegiate Athletic Association, World War, United States, Olympic Games, Summer Olympic Games

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Is It Mintonette or Volleyball?
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     William G. Morgan was an instructor at a YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The year was 1895. Basketball had been invented in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, just four years earlier. While basketball was becoming very popular, Morgan had businessmen in his classes who didn't want the contact that was part of that game. They wanted to keep active. They just didn't want to be so close to the other team and do so much running.
 
2     Morgan decided to create a new game for his students. He borrowed parts of several other games and put them together to form his own game. He took the net used in tennis and moved it up to six feet six inches above the ground. This would put the top of the net just above the heads of average males. He added a little bit of basketball, a little bit of baseball, and a little bit of handball together with the tennis to create a game he called mintonette. During a demonstration of the game, one of the spectators told Morgan that it looked like the players were volleying the ball back and forth over the net. He then added that he thought volleyball was a better name than mintonette. Morgan liked that idea.
 
3     The first game of volleyball was played at Springfield College on July 7, 1896. The first regulation volleyball was designed in 1900. Both basketball and volleyball started their climb to popularity during this time. Basketball seemed to appeal more to the younger, energetic player. Volleyball found supporters in the older, less mobile players.

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