Coach Anton A. Blinov

Volleyball is an Olympic sport, a team sport game in which two teams compete on a special area divided by a net, trying to send the ball to the opponent's side so that it lands on the opponent's court (finish it to the floor), or so that the player of the defending team made a mistake. At the same time, to organize an attack, players of one team are allowed no more than three touches of the ball in a row (in addition to touching on the block).

It is believed that volleyball originated thanks to William J. Morgan, a twenty-year-old teacher of physical education at one of the colleges of Holyoke (USA). In 1895, at one of his lessons, he hung a net (at about 2 meters high) and invited his students to throw a basketball camera over it. Morgan called the resulting game "Mintonet". Two years later, the first volleyball was developed and put into production and a ten-point set of rules was developed.

Volleyball is a non-contact, combinational sport, where each player has a strict specialization on the court. The most important qualities for volleyball players are jumping ability for rising high above the net, reaction, coordination, physical strength for the effective production of attacking blows.

For amateurs volleyball is a common entertainment and way of recreation due to the simplicity of the rules and the availability of equipment.

There are numerous variants of volleyball that have branched off fr om the main type: these are beach volleyball (Olympic type since 1996), mini-volleyball, pioneer ball, park volleyball (approved by the FIVB Congress in November 1998 in Tokyo).

Now volleyball is very popular all over the world, it is played by 33 million people. In Russia, more than 1 million 300 thousand athletes are involved in volleyball. Also, beach volleyball has received great development in our country.

The formation of SPbGASU volleyball teams was not easy. There was absolutely nothing: no uniforms, no good balls, no modern volleyball racks and nets, and other equipment. In addition, the high turnover of players, the lack of teamwork of partners, the different levels of individual preparedness of volleyball players affected. But in the process of certain organizational measures, hard training and game practice, teamwork appeared, the lineups stabilized, the provision of the teams improved. As a result of all this came success.

Since 2012, the teams of our university have been taking part in the championships of the universities of St Petersburg in classic and beach volleyball. During this time, the men's team has gone from subgroup "B" of the second group and reached the first group of teams, wh ere it has successfully established itself and has been performing for the fourth year in a row. The highest achievement of the men's team was the 2nd place in the 2014–2015 season. At the end of the 2016–2017 season the team finished fourth in its subgroup.

Also successful in the 2016–2017 season was our male couple of beach volleyball players performance. For the first time, the team took 4th place in the championship of universities in St Petersburg. Only an unfortunate mistake by the referee in the semi-final did not allow our players to take a higher place.

The women's team also successfully competes in the championship of the universities of St Petersburg. During the same period, the team moved up from subgroup "B" of the second group to group "A".

At the end of the 2016–2017 season the team finished second in their subgroup. The backbone of the women's team consists of both young players and experienced ones.

Many players of our teams successfully play for various city volleyball teams in numerous competitions and tournaments held in our city, improving their skills.

Every year, players who graduate from the university leave the teams. And every year new athletes come to us. We hope that the continuity will be maintained for many years and that volleyball at the university will be maintained at a high level.

Classic volleyball

At the end of the 2017/2018 season, the women's team took third place in group 3 and moved up to group 2. The men's team finished fifth in Group 2.

At the end of the 2018/2019 season, the women's team took third place in Group 2. The men's team took eighth place in group B. The change of generations affected the low result of this year. Experienced players have left, and the young players who have come to replace them still lack neither experience nor skill.