What Is Hooverball? – Better At Volleyball

What do America’s 31st President and the Crossfit movement have in common? The answer is a love for Hooverball, a sport that was created in 1929 in an effort to curb the expansion of President Herbert Hoover’s waistline. But what exactly is Hooverball, and should you be adding it to your fitness routine?

Hooverball is a two-team sport in which a 6 lb (2.7 kg) medicine ball is thrown over an 8 ft (2.4 m) volleyball-like net and caught by a player on the opposing team. It is likened to a cross between tennis and volleyball but is considered more strenuous due to the weight of the ball.

In this article, I will talk about the history of this fitness-focused sport, the rules and regulations of the game, and how it’s being repopularized today, particularly within the Crossfit community.

Who Invented Hooverball and Why?

Hooverball has a unique history, one that will make you wonder how the sport got its presidential name.

According to inverse.com, Hooverball (or “Hoover-ball,” as it’s sometimes written) was devised by White House physician Joel T. Boone in 1929 in an effort to improve the health and fitness of President Herbert Hoover, whom The New York Times had noted, “had come to weigh more than he should.”

Standing around 6 feet (182 cm) tall and weighing 200 pounds (90 kg), the president wasn’t exactly obese, but he was described as having a bit of a paunch.

The President was documented to have said that the sport “required less skill than tennis, was faster and more vigorous,” and called it “more strenuous than either boxing, wrestling or football.” Hooverball gets almost your entire body moving and in on the action.

The sport remained nameless until 1931 when an article in The New York Times describing the president’s daily life, dubbed it “Hooverball.”

**Crossfit has been a catalyst for the resurgence of Hooverball.**

The History of Hooverball

While Hooverball is most often likened to tennis and volleyball, the game was actually inspired as a result of an experience President Hoover had aboard the Naval battleship Utah in South America.

President Hoover witnessed a group of sailors playing a game they called “bull-in-the-ring,” where they threw a nine-pound medicine ball from player to player while standing in a circle as the “bull” in the middle tried to catch it.

At first, Dr. Boone and President Hoover began using medicine ball workouts one-on-one in an effort to improve his fitness, but Hoover was easily bored with exercise regimes. Together, Hoover and Boone came up with the idea for Hooverball.

Before long, the entire cabinet had formed teams to play Hooverball on the White House lawn.

Hooverball was popular among the president, Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, and other high government officials, and there was such fervor about the game, they were certain it would spread throughout the country.

If it was rainy or too cold, they would even take the game indoors.

Four to eighteen “VIPs” would come to the south yard each morning to play, and they became known as the “Medicine Ball Cabinet,” although not all the players were part of the Official Cabinet.

While the game did help the president to drop 25 pounds (11 kg) and slim down his waistline, according to Inverse, the game fell in popularity after Hoover’s term ended. His successor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had polio.

How Is Hooverball Different From Normal Volleyball?

Hooverball is played by two teams of two to four players, like normal volleyball. However, it is different from normal volleyball in that instead of a volleyball, a medicine ball is thrown back and forth over an eight-foot (2.4 m) net. Also, instead of striking the ball, the players will catch and throw it.

The medicine ball typically weighs 6 pounds (2.7 kg) and takes quite an effort to throw over the net. Players are supposed to throw the ball immediately upon catching it. This is what makes it such an effective fitness game.

Teams can be co-ed, and one female team member should be present on the court at all times in a co-ed tournament, though rules can vary slightly for female players.

Players must catch the ball without letting it hit the ground and then throw it back, much like volleyball. Unlike volleyball, though, running with the ball and passing to other members of the team is prohibited.

A player serves the ball by throwing it from the backline, and just like in volleyball, the players rotate in a clockwise direction after each round of serving.

The Hooverball Court

Typically, the game is played on a grass or sand court similar to volleyball.
The Hooverball court is 66 feet (20.1m) by 30 feet (9.1m) and is separated into two sides by a net that stands at 8 feet (2.4m) high.
In comparison, a volleyball court is 60 feet (18.29 meters) long by 30 feet (9.14 meters) wide, while the net is 7 feet, 11 ⅝ inches (2.43 meters) high.

Rules and Keeping Score in Hooverball

Hooverball scoring is the same as tennis: love-15-30-40-(deuce, ad-in, ad-out)-game.

The game uses rally scoring to 7 or 11 points per game, and the team that wins the best of 3 games wins the match.

A point is awarded anytime an opponent fails to catch a return, fails to return the ball across the net, returns the ball out of bounds, or fails to return the ball to the proper court area.

With regards to the proper court area, a ball returned from the front half of a team’s court must be returned to the back half of their opponent’s court. Otherwise, the opponent is awarded the point.

Types of Hooverball Throws

There are four main types of throws in Hooverball:

A body twist throw, in which a player releases the ball quickly from the hip
An over-the-head, full-body throw
An advanced throw called a “trebuchet” in which the player keeps the elbow straight, steps forward, and then twists to throw the ball
A spike, when the player jumps high enough to throw the ball over the net in a downward motion

Who Plays Hooverball Today?

While the sport died out after Hoover left office, it is seeing a resurgence today among fitness-minded people, particularly in Crossfit circles.

Hooverball began to resurface in 2015 after it was featured in a Men’s Journal article titled “14 World Championships Anyone Can Win,” and Crossfit founder Greg Glassman incorporated the game into his “Workout of the Day,” or “WOD” to Crossfitters.

After being featured in the Crossfit Journal, the sport began to take off for the second time.

According to a case study in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, this is likely due to an increase in the popularity of extreme conditioning programs, as athletes search for new and engaging forms of high-intensity workouts for the whole body.

Hooverball is also now played at military bases worldwide as well as in CrossFit gyms across the country.

Some Crossfitters have even upped the intensity by playing with medicine balls weighing up to 20 pounds (9 kg).

But in West Branch, Iowa where President Hoover was born, the game never went out of style. In fact, the town annually hosts the Hooverball National Championship, and the event generally brings more than 50 teams from across the country each year.

Additionally, outside of Crossfit and the annual tournament, a Google search brings up dozens of youth leagues across the country, demonstrating its popularity with kids.

Final Thoughts

Hooverball is a fun, fast, and high-intensity game that offers a full-body workout. It’s a great option for those looking for new and exciting ways to stay fit. Crossfit gyms and community leagues are great places to look for anyone interested in playing.

Sources

Photo Credits

Feature image by flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Crossfit image by Taco Fleur from Pixabay

Hooverball spike image by Kevin Collins on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/