por The history of volleyball in Mexico dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, when it was introduced into the country. Between 1910 and 1917, two YMCA instructors, Óscar F. Castillón and Franklin O. Westrup, promoted this sport in Monterrey. Later, Enrique Aguirre took him to Mexico City and José Escobar to Chihuahua.
Volleyball is a sport that is played between two teams, with a ball and a net in the middle of the court. Each team has 6 players and the objective is to pass the ball over the net causing it to fall on the opposing team’s ground, while preventing it from touching the ground of your own ground.
At that time volleyball was called mintonette. William G. Morgan, its creator, took the tennis net and raised it 6 feet 6 inches above the ground, just above the average man’s head. Little by little, volleyball and its rules began to spread throughout South America and the rest of the world.
During 1917, a group of Christian men who were part of the YMCA brought volleyball to Mexico. Three years later, this game was declared a national sport.
From then on, it was implemented as a compulsory sport taught in schools, as it was seen as beneficial for people. Its popularity was so great that little by little tournaments began to be held between the schools.
Eventually, Mexico hosted the Pan American Games in the mid-1950s, and its volleyball team went on to win the gold medal, cementing its position in sports. From that moment on, a great volleyball tradition was born in the country.
Beginnings of volleyball in Mexico
Although it was born in the United States at the end of the 19th century, volleyball began to expand to other countries in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1916 the official rules of this sport were created.
A year later, volleyball arrived in Mexico. This happened when teachers and physical instructors who belonged to the YMCA Christian youth society decided to bring this sport to the region.
Óscar Castillón (one of the volleyball teachers of this association) spread it in the city of Monterrey and encouraged the inhabitants of the area to learn to play it. For his part, another YMCA member, Enrique Aguirre, took him to the capital, Mexico City.
From there, little by little volleyball began to popularize throughout the national territory. In 1920, coach Leoncio Ochoa pushed for the implementation of this sport in the country’s high schools. In the end, he paid off and managed to push it forward.
The government approved its introduction into the academic sports programs of schools. In this way, it began to be played in schools throughout the country, since a national budget was approved for its introduction.
A year later, the first volleyball tournaments were held in Mexico: one at the National Preparatory School and another at the YMCA headquarters. These tournaments took place within the framework of interscholastic leagues.
In 1927 the First Student Volleyball Championship took place. Something important to highlight about this historic event is that the sport was beginning to become official for women. On this occasion, seventeen men’s teams and four women’s teams participated.
Consolidation
In 1929 volleyball was consolidated as a national sport when the Great National Athletics and Sports Competition was held. The idea was to choose the team that would represent Mexico in the Central American and Caribbean Games, to be held in Cuba the following year. Seventeen teams participated and the team from Nuevo León won.
In 1930, Mexico won the gold medal for the men’s division in that championship. This was especially striking because at that time volleyball was just spreading in the rest of Latin America.
Just three years later, coach Juan Snyder founded the Mexican Volleyball Federation. Thanks to this, it was possible to gather and train the best players in this discipline. In 1935, the Mexican women’s team participated in the Central American Caribbean Games and won the gold medal.
In 1941 the Federation changed its president and Amado López Castillo was elected. That same year, the First National Women’s Volleyball Championship was held in Mexico City.
In 1955, Mexico won the gold medal in the women’s category and the silver medal in the men’s category at the Pan American Games held in the country’s capital. This was the first time that volleyball was part of the Pan American Games.
In 1962, Mexico won the gold medal again at the Central American Games, held in Jamaica. Eight years later they repeated this feat at the Central American Games in Panama.
In 1974 Mexico hosted the Volleyball World Cup, the eighth in the men’s category and the seventh in the women’s category. Most experts affirm that the best selection of players existed between the 60s and 70s, highlighting Amanda Bojórquez and José Luis Cuevas.
Present
Since its consolidation as a national sport, volleyball has played an important role both in academic life and in the sports culture of Mexicans. This sport is one of the most popular games in the region, especially practiced by young people.
Its formalization made it possible for a large number of people to have trained in this discipline and become experts. The fact that it is taught in schools as an academic subject generated its great popularity in the country.
Definitely, thanks to this it is possible for people to train from a very young age in this discipline, and thus they can reach professional levels in adulthood if they wish.
At present, volleyball is considered one of the most important and significant sports in all of Mexican sports history. Its importance has been such that it has even helped boost tourism in the region.
References
History of volleyball in Mexico. Recovered from volleyball.mx.
History of volleyball. Retrieved from volleyball.org.