American Wallyball Association puts players before profits
Gina Damron/The South End
At the Zodiak Racquetball Club in
Southgate, Mich., a group enjoys an intense game of wallyball. Players
may bounce the rubbery, volleyball-like ball off the two side walls, as
well as the ceiling and back wall on their side of the net. The game was
founded in 1979 and can now be found in over 30 countries. Rules for the
game is set by the American Wallyball Association, which was founded in
1988 by nine avid players of the sport.
 By
Jeff Pope
Contributing Writer
Over the past few weeks I've highlighted off-the-wall
sports because not everyone plays baseball, basketball and football.
This week's sport is wallyball. What makes wallyball unlike the other
sports I've reported on is the game's sudden rise in popularity due to
the managing organization's refusal to charge players.
The American Wallyball Association sets the rules and
the conduct of play in over 30 countries.
Nine players, including Rudy Morel, founded the AWA in
1988. Three years later, the association only had 1,200 members. Today,
Morel said the AWA - which is run by a staff of volunteers - has more
than two million worldwide, and every one of them joined for free.
"The day we start taking money, it's going to
destroy everything," Morel said.
The game is simple to play if you've ever played
volleyball. Wallyball is played on a racquetball court with a net
hanging from one side to the other. Players volley, set and spike their
way to a predetermined number of points. Usually set at 21, the first
team to achieve that number wins. The difference is that in wallyball
players can hit the ball off the two side walls, their back wall and the
ceiling on their side of the net to beat opponents.
Joe Garcia invented the game in California in 1979. By
1981, he tried to turn the game into a business. Players had to pay to
play. After struggling to keep the game aloft, Garcia sold his share and
walked away.
Sports equipment makers Mizuno and Voit stopped
producing their equipment because of low sales. Morel said too much
emphasis was put on the business end of the game. He and other players
decided they had enough and went to form the AWA. Even today the
association won't even charge a nominal fee.
"I believe the sport is too young," Morel
said. "If you try to make money out of this sport, it won't ever
grow."
The spike in membership of the AWA during the 1990s is
attributed to one thing: the Internet.
Morel and a friend, Eric Swanson, ran an Internet
Service Provider as their day jobs. They started the Web site,
wallyball.com, in 1992 and within six months, 137,000 members joined the
AWA for free.
Morel and Swanson use the site to keep players connected
all around the world, as well as sell equipment used for the game. They
supply tournaments and wallyball start-ups with free equipment in hopes
that the game will take off in health clubs and universities so they'll
sell more equipment. Their list of shipments also includes the White
House, where it's reported that the elder George Bush is a wallyball
ace.
Schools and health clubs might charge to use the
wallyball courts, and some tournaments charge an entrance fee. The
profits the AWA receives are used to promote tournaments.
"We're here for one reason and one reason only: to
keep the sport alive," Morel said. "I think we do a hell of a
good job because when somebody sent an e-mail to us from Kenya telling
us that there is a recreation center (and) they've got a wallyball court
... they want to know how to set it up. We sent them the free ball, the
free rulebook and six months later they tell us, 'We got 83 players.'
That feels good."
Morel is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who
used volleyball to escape working in the sugarcane fields in his
homeland. His skill earned him a scholarship to Rutgers University and a
chance for a better life, which he said he found in California when he
was introduced to the game of wallyball.
Morel has tremendous passion for the game and believes
strongly in the purity of competition. His enthusiasm reminded me of
playing Little League Baseball, when sports were just games that
children played just because they were fun. Wallyball is just fun.
Most leagues operate during the fall and winter
regardless of which hemisphere it's being played in. Most tournaments
right now are in South America and Australia. Leagues will pick up here
in the Northern Hemisphere this September.
The AWA promotes tournaments in various countries at the
same time rather than have one big world tournament because people of
every class in any country can play wallyball.
"We sponsored the tournament in Peru," Morel
said. "We've got 900 players who cannot afford to fly here. Then
why would we spend all the money here when they cannot enjoy it?"
Morel said the AWA funds teams everywhere, from the Boys
and Girls Clubs in California to tournaments around the country. The
association hopes the clubs will repay its generosity by expanding
wallyball programs and buying more equipment.
The AWA earns most of its money by selling equipment
through the Web site. The site is the only place to buy authorized
wallyball supplies.
Morel said the AWA owns 35 percent of the manufacturer
who supplies the equipment. Although the association has a few corporate
sponsors, without a lot of funding it will be a while before a wallyball
tournament shows up on ESPN.
The game, however, is growing as a family sport.
"In the beginning, the mistakes we were making is
we tried to promote the competition part of it," Morel said.
"It didn't work too good. Now we try to promote (the family
aspects) of the sport."
The AWA also encourages player comments, stories and
photos. Morel said the association tries to respond to every e-mail
within two days. It's one way the organization shows the players and
fans they are the most important parts of the game.
The AWA has received offers to sell the league and Web
site, but the league is more successful operating as a non-profit
volunteer organization.
"I don't see us ever, ever selling this operation
because I know it's going to go back to square one (if we do),"
Morel said.
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