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Public tries out for Sky Ball team
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
The Covelli Centre was filled with more than 100 enthusiastic people who were hoping to get as much bounce to the ounce as possible.
The estimated 120 to 130 contestants were there Saturday to try out to be one of eight people chosen for a regional Sky Ball team.
“It’s like ‘American Idol’ meets ‘Survivor’ meets pro sport,” said Brian Kessler, a Youngstown native who three years ago invented the color-coded Sky Balls, which are 4 inches in diameter and can bounce up to 75 feet high.
More than a year ago, Kessler helped design a sport around the ball and came up with Sky Ball, which borrows from basketball and lacrosse. The balls, made from a special plastic and rubber material and pumped with oxygen and helium, have sold well and are available at stores such as Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target and the Sports Authority, he noted.
The contestants, most of whom are from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, went through eight hours of drills that consisted of elimination rounds, similar to the format “American Idol” adopted.
Those who make the team will play against seven other teams in a national tournament that Fox is to air this summer. The top team will get $40,000, and an extra $5,000 will go to whoever the audience selects as most valuable player.
Fox also filmed Saturday’s tryouts at the Covelli Centre.
In the first round, groups of 25 sprinted from one end of the court to the other, then picked up, dribbled and shot the balls at a backboard that contained three scoring pads 12 to 16 feet high. A short time later, the hopefuls were asked to demonstrate their strength and agility by bouncing the balls as high as possible.
Contestants’ speed, ability to dribble and coordination were part of the criteria judges used for each round, Kessler explained.
Some contestants such as Kory George of Struthers were happy they made the first cut.
“I played football and baseball in high school,” the 2010 Struthers High graduate and College of Wooster student said. “I figured my football and baseball skills could possibly transfer into this.”
Competitors’ speed and close proximity to one another reminded George of his football-playing days, he said.
Another contestant was Dom Lariccia, 20, a Youngstown State University education major who heard about the tryouts from a story in The Vindicator.
Like George, Lariccia played baseball and football at Struthers High and wanted to see how far he would get in the Sky Ball competition.
The sport, which Kessler calls “a work in progress,” is played on a 100-foot-by-40-foot court with colored lines. Players wear a special glove on one hand and receive three points if they smack the ball and hit one of the scoring pads. One point is awarded for throwing the ball and striking one of the targets.
Players are penalized for failing to dribble the ball or fouling their opponents, Kessler noted.
He said FOX Sports picked up the reality show based on creating the Sky Ball League, and noted that efforts are under way to form teams in Youngstown; Tampa, Fla.; Austin, Texas; and Orange County, Calif.