Meg Murphy
Publsihed: March 24 2004
Its 9 p.m. and the academic day at PJC is coming to an end.
But out on the tennis courts the night is just beginning.
Four people stand on each side of the tennis net waiting for the action to start. A half-dozen other people stand on the side and look on. Then a girl in the far right corner throws a volleyball in the air, punches it, and sends it flying across to the other side like a bomb.
The game of boundball has begun.
The players do not mind that they can only play at night and never around tennis players. In fact, there seems to be nothing but positive energy from the group of teenagers and 20-somethings. They are grateful to have a place to play at all.
Boundball was invented in 1989 by Elaine Shores and Martha Rainey, physical education instructors at Booker T. Washington High School. They were faced with a dilemma. It was too windy for volleyball, but the school lacked enough equipment for tennis. They needed a game for their girls? P.E. classes, and from this problem, boundball was born.
Boundball can best be described as a mix between tennis and volleyball. It is played with at least eight people – four on each team with the courts divided into quarters. The volleyball is shot from one side of the net to the other, much like the game of volleyball. The catch is that the ball must bounce once before a player can hit it. The player is allowed to pass to a fellow teammate. A point is made when one team bounces the ball in the other team?s court and they fail to hit it before it goes out of bounds or bounces twice. If the ball does not make it over the net, it becomes the other team?s turn to serve.
At Washington High School, boundball still is a familiar term for girls who take P.E. However, it was not until the end of 2002 that a few bored high school graduates who missed boundball decided to play outside of school. What began with only a couple of girls buying a volleyball and playing boundball turned into a group of 20 to 25 players becoming involved in full-scale competitions.
They began calling themselves ?The Association of the Pensacola Boundballs.? They played at Bayview Park, rain or shine and had boundball nicknames such as ?The Wall,? ?Ballsy Burns,? and ?Lil? Salty.? They also had names for some of the more sophisticated moves. The ?smack attack? for example, is when a player hits the ball with great force close to the other team?s lines making it difficult for them to hit it back.
?It?s a fun way to spend my free time,? Rachel Wentworth said.
It was not long before the boundball players ran into trouble because of the game. In February 2003, games were stopped and players were told by Pensacola Police Officers that they could not play boundball at Bayview Park because the rules posted on the chain link fence say ?tennis only.? While the rule probably originally was intended for skateboarders and people riding roller blades, it would not be fair to make exceptions.
The group then began playing at Roger Scott Park but was forced to discontinue playing there as well. Many of the players became discouraged, and some felt as though they were being targeted because they were young people and were not playing a conventional sport.
Then founding boundball player, Rebecca Marsh (boundball name ?The Heater,?) came up with the idea to play at the PJC tennis courts.
?I was happy when we started playing at PJC because it?s right by my house and I can walk,? James Slowikowski said. ?What I thought was special about boundball is that anyone can play. I met all kinds of new people when I started. It?s something I really enjoy and it?s free.?
The boundball players are grateful to PJC for the use of the tennis courts. However, there are often not enough players to get a game going.
?Over the summer, some of the players began to get very competitive. Some took the game a little too seriously so we stopped playing for a while,? Marsh said.
Then in July 2003, one of the founding boundball players, 19-year-old Darryl Clarkson (boundball name, ?Digital D?) was killed in an automobile accident.
Since then, things haven?t been the same. Some boundball players say they have retired from the game because, as Slowisoski says, ?it wouldn?t be the same without Digital D.?
Other players say that they definitely want to play more but are having trouble organizing teams.
Many people say they would join a boundball league if one came into existence, and it seems they are just waiting for a leader.