The Biggest Mistake I made with Wallball
The Biggest Mistake I Made with Wallball
In 2011 I founded The United States Wallball Association, Inc. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to utilizing the sport of Wallball as a vehicle to provide learning opportunities to young people. In 2010 I founded Wallball World LLC; a vendor platform for professional Wallball events and program curation.
What is Wallball?
Wallball is a term used to describe a sport that was once known as Irish / American handball in which players use their hands to hit a small rubber ball against a wall such that their opponent cannot do the same without it touching the ground twice. The three versions of this sport are four-wall, three-wall and one-wall. Each version can be played either by two players (singles) or four players (doubles).
History of Wallball
Games in which a ball is hit or thrown have been referenced as far back as Homer and ancient Egypt. A game similar to wallball was played by Northern and Central Americans from 1500 BC, most famously by the Aztecs as the Mesoamerican ballgame. However, no references to a rebound game using a wall survive. It is thought that these ancient games more closely resembled a form of hand tennis. Further
examples of similar games include the European-originated games of Basque pelota (or Jai-alai), Valencian front, and International fronton.
The first recorded game of striking a ball against a wall using a hand was in Scotland in 1427, when King James I ordered a cellar window in his palace courtyard to be blocked up, as it was interfering with his game. In Ireland, the earliest written record of a similar game is in the 1527 town statutes of Galway, which forbade the playing of ball games against the walls of the town. The first depiction of an Irish form of handball does not appear until 1785. The sport of handball in Ireland was eventually standardized as Gaelic handball. By the mid-19th century, Australians were playing a similar game, which developed into the modern sport of Australian handball.
As a grown man in Springfield, Illinois, it was said that Abraham Lincoln's favorite athletic activity was a handball game known as 'fives,' played against a brick wall in an alley near his law office. One of his opponents described the scene: 'Here is where "Old Abe" was always champion, for his long arms and long legs served a good purpose in reaching and returning the ball from any angle his adversary could send it to the wall.' Another observer was less complimentary, saying that Lincoln's 'suppleness, leaps, and strides to strike the ball were comical in the extreme.'
Lincoln was not out for style points, however. He liked the competition, and a rousing game of fives was also a good way to relieve the stress of life with his wife, Mary Todd; the law; and politics. So, it is not altogether surprising that in May 1860, with the presidential nominating convention going on in Chicago, he went down to the alley for a game.
Wallball Around the Globe
The United States, together with 26 other nations represent the growing sport of wall ball. The World Wall Ball Championships have been held every three years since 1964 alternating between Canada, Ireland, and the USA. There are over 3,000 wall ball clubs world-wide with players ranging in age from 9-89 years old. Recently, wall ball has piqued the interest of the International Olympic Committee for inclusion in the Olympic Games, hence the name change to “Wall Ball.” There is currently a popular sport included in the Olympic program called “Olympic Handball” which is also referred to as “Team Handball.”
Wallball in New York
In “Treacherous Beauty,” by Mark Jacob and Stephen H. Case about the Arnold-Andre conspiracy, Major John Andre and General Sir Henry Clinton are said to have played a game called handball during the American Revolution. The earliest record of the modern game in the United States mentions two handball courts in San Francisco in 1873. The sport grew over the next few decades. By the early 1900s, four-wall handball was well established and a one-wall game was developed in New York City by beach-goers who hit bald tennis balls with their hands against the sides of the wooden jetties that lined beaches. This led to a rise in one-wall handball at New York beaches and by the 1930s, due to the efforts of the New York City Parks Department thousands of outdoor one-wall courts had been built throughout the city. Wall ball is seen predominantly in parks, beaches, and high schoolyards in New York, Chicago, and other large urban areas.
The Mistakes I Made as a Founder
Once my companies were established, for many years I experienced a kind of aggression directed towards me that I simply wrote off as how the community of players behaved. I have seen it before when they interacted with each other on the court so initially, it didn’t surprise me. However, as time went on, I noticed this negative stigma began to circulate among the more seasoned players and began to influence the younger generation that I was pouring all my resources into. There was a growing resentment that I didn’t understand, yet once again I ignored it as a character trait that I had witnessed as a constant within the culture of our sport, especially one that has given the New York players their reputation among the Wallball community. Over time, this negative narrative spilled onto social media and I began to read the complaints players had. No one had approached me in person during a tournament or learning clinic, but some felt comfortable enough to publish their frustrations publicly for the community to read.
What I’ve come to learn years later is that I did not have empathy for the existing community of players. I entered their world without their permission, without their support and told them how I expected them to behave during a match (because I thought I knew better). I had a set of rules, expectations and punishable offenses that I enforced by not allowing them to participate in our next event. This was crucial because at the time I had Red Bull as a sponsor, and they were pouring thousands of dollars into events that were extremely popular in New York City. Every Red Bull tournament distributed $10,000.00 in cash prizes. During this time, I didn’t realize how much the money meant to some of these players, how I’ve come to learn that in some cases it was how they provided for themselves and their families.
I never tried to understand why they behaved in such a way. I was acting as an authoritarian. I was deaf to their concerns, to their needs. They wanted to be recognized as professionals in their sport. They wanted their talents and abilities to be celebrated just as much as any other professional athlete, which I genuinely believe they deserve. I have so much respect for their craft, yet this was never translated into how I treated or interacted with them. Instead, when an article was published, or a news reporter wanted insight to the game I was the one giving the interviews and introducing the rest of the world to the sport. But who was I? Yes, I too grew up playing the sport just like every native New Yorker who utilized the public parks but I was no expert. I hired the experts to run USWA events and consult on how to manage the players. I never won a professional event or scraped my knee on the floor to retrieve a ball. I needed to pay homage, and I did not. I simply had no empathy.
Over time I began to correct my course of action and provide more opportunities to the younger generation of players in New York City. I provided jobs, mentorship opportunities and created a publication we called “Player of the Week” to highlight the individuals who were making a positive difference in the community. Things began to slowly take a turn for the better, but it took tremendous effort to repair the damage that I had caused. In some cases, there are a few individuals that still do not support USWA or Wallball World almost a decade later. They still hold a grudge that I cannot undo. And, as a Founder, you learn these valuable lessons as you navigate new territory and bump your head along the way of developing new business, and most importantly as you continue to develop yourself.
If you intend to embark on a new journey, I encourage you to immerse yourself in the existing culture, wherever you are. That does not mean compromise your mission or your intention for being there because for many years the players wanted me to be more lenient on rules with regard to behavior and I wasn’t. Cursing and/or disrespecting your opponent was off the table at our events but I could have allowed a local street vendor to sell their products. After all, they were there way before we were. Our mission was to utilize the sport to empower young people and we have done just that regardless of the road taken. To date, we have the most populated youth Wallball events in the world and the common feedback I receive is “we feel safe here.” Regardless of how we got there, mission accomplished.