Wallball is a sport being played globally in over 100 countries and Founder and President of the Jamaica Wallball Association, Oneil Cummings, is optimistic about where the sport can go in the country.

Wallball is an indirect style of a ball game where the player hits a small rubber ball with their hand against a wall. The goal of the game is to score more points than the opponent. If the opponent fails to return the ball, the player scores a point. The game begins when one player serves the ball by hitting the ball towards the wall. The ball must bounce one time on the ground before it reaches the wall. The receiving player must let the ball hit the wall and bounce once before returning it.

“We are launching off at a very small level but we can only grow. We are hopeful that the sport will take off in Jamaica. I am hopeful that we will get the support that will foster the growth of the sport here,” he said at the JWA’s press launch and demo of Wallball at the University of Technology (UTECH) on Saturday.

“There are several emerging and exciting sporting activities that have been helping to foster greater social cohesion across the world and the game of Wallball represents one of those,” added Cummings before going into ways the association plans to integrate the sport locally.

“We at the Jamaica Wallball Association intend to host an annual International Invitational Pro Tournament so the future should be very bright for prospective players.”

Getting the sport into schools is also a goal down the line for Cummings, who reiterated that this is just phase one of their plans as the association, formed in 2018, is just picking up where they left off after taking a break due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

“This is just phase one. We are now creating a brand so marketing will be very important after this phase. The association was formed just before Covid so now we are just picking up back where we left off before the break.”

He did mention one partnership that is already in motion with the hosts of the event, UTECH.

Donna-Marie Wynter-Adams, head of the Caribbean School of Sports Sciences at the university, spoke about the essence of their partnership with the JWA.

“We are always open to doing the certification for small federations and we have a sport elective. We feel that our graduates must know not only their field of study, but they must also develop the sportsmanship and community spirit that comes from sport. We have electives that you can do from another module and we have the sports elective so you can do Basketball, Golf and learn to swim and we can add Wallball to that collection that we can offer to persons who are getting their degree.”

“We think it is a good partnership because you are introducing another sport. If you realize now, we are expanding. Our athletes want to do field events and novel sports. With 2.9 million persons, not all of them want to do the 100 metres. It is good when we bring in small sports because we have a great capacity for sport,” she added before going into some benefits of playing Wallball.

“You can burn a lot of calories with it. It is not related to your age, just your ability to move. Even if you are not able to move and you’re wheelchair bound, you can still play it.”

Phase one of the associations efforts to grow Wallball in Jamaica will involve a series of training and demonstration clinics in the Kingston & St Andrew and Portmore areas from November 11-20. The training series will be hosted by the Wallball International Federation.

“We are very excited to be here to introduce a new sport to Jamaica. It is very easy to play,” said Colombian WIF President Alberto Viteri.

International players Tony Roberts, Paul Yagual and Stephanie Vega will be the coaches at the clinics while Cummings also noted that Jamaica College, Papine High, Bridgeport High, Kingston College and Donald Quarrie High will all be involved.