Have a ball
Saturday August 2, 2003 The
'national championships' of Hooverball are this weekend in West Branch By
David Burke QUAD-CITY
TIMES Here's
a sport so obscure it can't even be found on ESPN2 at 3 in the morning. It's
Hooverball, named for Iowa native son and former president Herbert Hoover, whose
physician prescribed it to keep the commander-in-chief physically fit. He played
it on the front lawn of the White House with Supreme Court justices and cabinet
members every morning, six days a week. Its
national championships are this weekend at the Hoover Museum in West Branch,
Iowa. Hooverball
is played with a medicine ball - six-pound for men, four-pound for women - in a
manner similar to volleyball, using the same eight-foot net. But
instead of volleying, it's all about throwing and catching. "Once
you catch it, you have to throw it right back," said Mike Johnston,
commissioner of the Hooverball tournament. "There's a front court and a
back court, just like volleyball, and if you catch it in your front court, you
have to throw it in your opponent's back court. If you can catch it in the back
court, you can throw it anywhere. The
scoring is the same as tennis: love, 15, 30, 40 and game. Besides
a different weight, the other concession to women is that they can throw it to
one teammate before it goes over the net. As
younger, stronger players are getting into the game, more are learning to spike
the ball, Johnston said. "You'd
hate to think somebody could spike a four-pound Hooverball, but it
happens," he said. Johnston,
who works for a bank in Iowa City, says the game is meant to build up stamina. "You'd
think it would be easy to catch it and throw it, but through the day it can be
exhausting," Johnston said. Hoover
was proud of his contribution to athletics, according to his memoirs. "It required less skill than tennis, was faster and more
vigorous, and therefore gave more exercise in a short time," he wrote. This
year is the 16th annual national championships of Hooverball. Many of the teams
competing are from Iowa - other cities have had Hooverball games, but nothing as
elaborate as West Branch's - with players coming from as far as Baltimore to
compete. Clinton, Iowa, is fielding several teams. No
Quad-City teams have signed up, Johnston said. Playing
Hooverball is exerting and addictive, said player Beth Walsh of West Branch. "The
men's game is basically a game of brute strength," Walsh says on the Hoover
Association Web site. "There is more strategy and finesse involved in the
women's game. "It's
really a fun workout. I don't know any other sport except maybe cross-country
skiing that uses as many muscles. And it's fun. Once you play, you get hooked. The
courts are at Berenek Park, east of the West Branch Family Practice Clinic on
South 2nd Street. Registration begins at 9 a.m. today, with games beginning at
10 a.m. The registration fee is $55, for a team of five. Three players are on
the court at the same time. Games
with the four- and six-pound ball will be played for free on Sunday. David
Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.
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