Wally Whaaaaat!

Take everything you learned in Physical Education class - bump, set, spike - and throw it away; We came to play no-rules wallyball!

For my fourth event, I signed up for Wednesday night wallyball at Revs. Revs is a multipurpose activity centre in Burnaby, just off Lougheed, near the Holdom Skytrain Station. Its main feature is the bowling alley. With 48 lanes of ten-pin bowling, this is the main attraction. But off to the side of the central complex is a small sports bar and fitness centre. Included in the fitness facility are five racket ball courts, perfect for squash, racket ball or completely uncivilized sports, such as wallyball.

Like many of you reading this, I had never played the sport of wallyball. I assumed it was something like volleyball, but on a closed squash court, where bumping off the walls was optional. What I neglected to include in my description was the chaos of making any sort of hit legal. In the version we played, kicking, punching, bumping, tossing and spiking, were all suitable means of playing the ball. The ball could bounce, or be played live, or be picked up, or booted from the ground. We basically had one rule: the ball needs to go over the net. This rule was frequently broken…

Now you may be thinking: 'How could this be an entertaining sport? Don't rules provide the necessary components to make a game playable.' Turns out rules are for suckers.

In our version, the only objective was to have fun. Without rules, the game never stopped, the ball was always in play and everyone was involved.

Each of us had our own unique style, which constantly evolved as we played. From the baseball swing, to the wall blast, to the reverse bump, our hitting styles were bizarre but effective.

Almost every volley provided a laugh. At one point, four of our players were literally rolling on the court floor laughing. If anyone had been watching through the little window above, they would have assumed a violent stomach virus had suddenly gripped half of our group.

We even had music to accompany the madness. One of the girls brought her iPod and played dance beats through the speaker. I believe there was a crazy version of Thunderstruck at one point. A fitting mashup for the creative mess we made of the sport of volleyball.

As far as making a connection with the female members, I did feel that the two girls who came out to the event were much closer to my age group than the other members I had met at previous events. They were both really fun and attractive. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk with them after because I needed to meet a friend. I hope to see them again at other events provided by Events and Adventures.