Norman Einstein's

ISSUE 04 (09/09)

"Of Walls & Balls"

by Stephanie Lim

[Stephanie is a photographer and journalist based in New York City. When not documenting urban decay or modern rituals, she is busily plotting her next global trek. Check out more of Stephanie's work at her site Limpire.]

The United States Handball Association held its annual One-Wall Championships August 5th to 9th in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

A lot of ball slapping goes on in handball. I'm not talking about the game's object itself, which is obviously about slapping balls. I'm talking about the inadvertent, unavoidable swatting of an opponent's sensitive areas. I witnessed this painful but commonplace swatting often at the National One-Wall Championships.

The Championships were a motley crew, astonishing even by New York standards. Two young Filipinas were the sole female competitors. The men ranged from teenaged to burly to almost arthritic, Asian to black to white.

Age and race aside, everyone brought their best game and most passionate outbursts. Not mere schoolyard trash talk, players instead directed motivational rants at themselves.

No rules are posted on the courts at Seaside Park in Coney Island. But like any place of tradition and sportsmanship, there is a great deal of protocol and seriousness.

Players refereed each others' matches. Shouts of interference rang out as stray balls scuttled across neighboring courts. Spectators posted up alongside the court or roamed freely around the perimeter, risking a rubber slap shot for a better view.

Yet everyone's focus remained on the blue rubber balls hurtling around the courts... even after a painful thwacking of those other kind of balls.

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