One of the kids' parents had a membership to the local
raquetball club. This normally would have been one of those "oh that's nice" kinda deals, however, our bud was able to use it as one of the perks of their membership. This opened up another outlet for
sophomoric teen energy.
One Friday he came up to us at lunch and said that he had booked a Wallyball court for 9:00 that night.
"Any takers?"
"What the heck's a wallyball?"
"It's volleyball, only you get to use the walls too. Very fast paced. Who's up for it?"
We had just been trying to decide what could be done on a Friday night that also wasn't lame. Rollerskating? Nope, did that last weekend. Movies? Nothing good playing. Cosmic bowling? This was greeted by fake yawns. When's the next dance? Man, there's nothing to do...We were so ready for something new.
Since I was one of the few with a license, plans generally revolved around my ability to snag the family big green buick. One quick phone call later and I had the wherewithall to squish in the part of the group from my half of town. (Had my mother known just how many 16 year olds could be fit into that car, I have a feeling our little trips would have been severely curtailed. These days I consider myself lucky not to have become another statistic. Back then, I was invincible, weren't you?)
Wallyball was everything he said it would be - only better.
Laughter echoing off walls, heavy breathing, glistening drops of sweat, the hackneyed comment by David that we should play shirts against skins, the raised eyebrows from the girls, spiking balls, colliding bodies and falling to the floor in a tangled heap. Uproarious fun. It had it all. Of course we changed the rules to accomodate our youthful needs. It was a heck of a lot of exciting fast paced action diverting teenage hormones (or not) followed by a long soak in the hot tub.
We had discovered a new form of entertainment to add to our list of "cool things to do" sprinkled throughout the remainder of our highschool years.
Wallyball is a variation of Volleyball played on a raquetball court.
Joe Garcia invented it in the late 1970's.
1989 brought about the formation of the
American Wallyball Association.
Basic Wallyball Rules
-
Service area is 3 feet from each end of the court
- Game ends at 15 points, must win by 2 points
- Time outs call by captains only at end of point played
- Limit: 2 time outs, 30 seconds each per game
- If more than 2 time outs are called then other team is awarded point or side out
- A 5 minute injury time out can be awarded to the team with the injury by referee
- Two substitutions per game allowed
- Coin toss will determine first service or choice of court side. Second game service to other team. Third game if necessary will need another coin toss
- Out of bounds is when a ball while crossing the net hits the ceiling, back wall of opponent’s side or two walls consecutively on service, volley or block
- Ceiling and back wall on own side is in bounds if own player touches it
- Server cannot spike or block in (4) four person play
- If server catches the ball on service toss, the sever can replay the serve
- The service must be a clean contact with the ball. Pushing the ball or rolling the ball off the fingers (paint brush) is not allowed
- Service order must be kept prior to serving
- If a ball on 1st or 2nd hit goes into the gallery, a replay is awarded
- If the ball is only partly across the net, and the opponent hits it, it is good
- Touching the net is not allowed by players, unless the ball is driven into the net and the net hits the player
- In the attack, the player must contact the ball before the ball has completely crossed over the net
- Blockers can reach over the net to block, providing the other team has made it’s third contact of the ball
- The opponent cannot block the set. If any part of the ball has crossed the vertical plane, a free ball is in effect and both teams are entitled to it
- If two opposing players touch the net simultaneously the point is replayed
- A ball crossing below the net across the vertical plane can be played back by your side it is not over three hits
- A ball on the vertical plane above the net is open to both sides
- A Ball passing through the side openings of the net on the 1st or 2nd contact is replayed
- A double hit is only allowed on a block, or the return of a hard driven hit
- If a ball is touched on a block, the team still has 3 hits and the blocker can make the any of these hits
- Contacting two or more walls is allowed only by the team in possession of the ball on their own side, provided a player on that team touches the ball first. The ball must also be touched by another player before going over on multiple wall hit
- Holding, pushing, scooping, lifting or carrying the ball is not allowed, it must be a clean hit
- Holding the ball at the top of the net by both sides is a replay
- If two players on the same team, hit the ball simultaneously, it counts as one hit and either player can play the next hit
- No climbing or using the walls or players assisting each other to gain height at the net
- A ball can hit the back wall and over the net directly (when being played by your side), but if two walls are touched, another player must touch it before going over the net
- If a ball spins across to the opponent’s side and back to yours on the 1st or 2nd hit, you can play your 2nd or 3rd hit. If it is on the 3rd hit that it spins back, loss of pint or side out occurs
- An open hand dink of the ball is illegal, it must be a paint brush hit, a clean hit, closed fist, knuckle, cobra shot or soft spike
- A ball can not contact below the waist
- Rude conduct constitutes a warning, two penalties means expulsions
- On a block, if two players touch the ball, the teams still has 3 hits
- On a spike return, a double hit is allowed on the first player, if the player makes two attempts or the 2nd player double hits the ball, that would be a double hit and a fault
- Blocking or attacking a serve is legal
If you want the official rules head over to:
http://www.ohiostaterecsports.org/program/im/rules1p.htm
for more info, check out these sites...
www.volleyball.org
www.wallyball.com/