https://learnsportsrules.blogspot.com/2021/08/wallyball-game-rules.html
Feel like playing volleyball on a rainy, windy or a really hot day? Do you have access to a racquetball court? Well then you are all set to play Wallyball! As the name may have suggested, wallyball is volleyball (mostly) played in an indoor court with walls. Specifically, a racquet ball court.
The sport was invented by one Bill Dejonghe at the Calabasas Racquetball Court in California back in 1979. As with some other sports I have written about, Bill came up with idea to get more people to the club during the summer months. Over time, it has become equally popular in the Eastern states during those harsh winter months.
However, the credit to popularising the sport and bringing it to the mainstream (in the states) goes to Joe Garcia -a professional at the same club. As a result, many even end up crediting Joe with inventing the sport. So, please do remember Bill when this happens.
If you are still there and wondering – why wallyball and not just indoor volleyball? Then read on. The most important aspect of wallyball is that you can hit the ball off the walls like squash or racquetball.
As per the American Wallyball Association (AWA) a game is played between teams of 2-4 players each. A standard Racquetball court is used with a net in the centre. A match consists of 3 games of 15, 18 or 21 points.
Not surprisingly, general skills and strategies of volleyball apply to wallyball as well. However, there is a stark difference while striking the ball. Unlike volleyball, players cannot place curve on the ball via spiking or the paintbrush technique. Spin can only be imparted by hitting the center of the ball.
I imagine players have over time found innovative means to impart spin on the ball while staying within the rules. And believe me when I say it, there is strict enforcement of rules (as far as tournaments organised by the AWA are concerned) with regards to the manner in which the hands/arms contact the ball. Those guys are serious about their wallyball.
While serving, the ball can hit the side wall (once) but not the back walls. Like volleyball, a team gets three hits (excluding wall touches) to the get ball over the net back to the other half of the court.
The scoring system is slightly different and referred to as speed scoring. A point is scored on every service up to the point where one team reaches the “freeze point.” Once that occurs, a point is awarded on the next side-out and from that point on, each team must serve to score a point. The “freeze point” varies depending on the number of points needed to win a game. The freeze point is three points fewer than the number of points needed to win a game (Source: Wikipedia).
Ensuring that the ball doesn’t go out of bound or violate any rules must require amazing skills. Hand- eye coordination must be equally important. During gameplay, the ball can hit any number of walls or ceiling on your side of the court during the three hits which are allowed. But the single wall and no ceiling rule applies once the ball is crossing over the net.
The sport has not garnered a lot of international interest yet. Possible due to the fact that racquetball courts are not very common outside America. I suppose you could play on a squash court with some modifications to the markings.
All in all, it sounds like a really fun and exhiliarting sport and one which should be much more popular globally.