Ron Zucker, a Hooverball player in the Baltimore area, noticed my earlier post on the sport and e-mailed me an invite to join their game if I'm ever in the neighborhood. Very hospitable of him, and he also gave me an informative answer to my question, "when you catch the ball, does any kind of rule or etiquette govern how quickly you have to throw it back?"
We use the "within reason" rule for throwing it back. In other words, if you dove, you can shake it off, get up, and throw. If you're heavily winded, go ahead and take a deep breath. And, of course, you can take a moment to look around and aim. It should be noted, though, that our experience is that the faster you return the ball, the less the other team has gotten set and the more likely you are to score, so we all try to get the ball back as quickly as possible.
Perhaps, though, an example is useful. At the Nationals this year, Iowa was going through a drought, so the ground was rock hard. I dove for one and caught it flat out. Obviously, that hurt when I hit the ground. Everyone waited for me to catch my breath, get up and return it. That probably took close to a minute all told, as I couldn't breathe at first. I apologized for the delay, but, as one of the Iowans pointed out, I did just hit a *planet* after all...
The other element of etiquette is taking steps, especially when going for the spike. The rule is that you have to get the ball from front court to backcourt. But if you catch it near the net, rising up and throwing as hard as you can right at the midline can be effective, though if the ball bounces before the midline, it's a point for the other team. This is more important with the 4 lb ball, which can be spiked very effectively, than with the 6 lb ball. And we frequently play a couple of games with a 9 lb ball for workout purposes, and that one can't really be spiked effectively at all, though we all try.
We try to use basketball rules for traveling. But it's always a bone of contention, as (let's be charitable here; these are my friends) some use NBA rules while others use college. Nobody calls traveling on the other team. It's a gentleman's game, after all. If you say you had your arms under the diving catch, then it wasn't a trap, and if you say you didn't travel, you didn't travel. But we all try to be honest, and I've been known to call traveling on myself. It's hard when you're close to being able to spike to not take the steps necessary to do it. Especially for me, as I'm a fat 40 year old smoker, so it's rare to be able to spike it. But I try to keep an eye on myself.
Thanks Ron!
P.S. Sounds a lot like Ultimate. An obscure sport governed by spirit of the game, and most laypeople will be surprised to hear there's a national championship.
