Was basketball invented before volleyball?

Volleyball and basketball are both played everywhere and feel as if they have always existed, and nothing about them suggests which came first. In fact both were invented in Massachusetts within four years of each other, in the world of YMCA physical education. James Naismith created basketball in 1891 while teaching at what is now Springfield College. Volleyball followed in 1895, devised by William G. Morgan in nearby Holyoke. Morgan wanted a game for older members that was less rough and less intense than basketball, which already existed and was spreading fast. So basketball came first, and volleyball was partly a response to it. This duel compares the years each game was invented, not their first published rule books, later name changes or Olympic debuts.