Wall Banging Culture

SPORT, MEDIA and CULTURE

Today we experience our sport in a more direct way than ever before. With social networking, the power of targeted information and social connection, we can instantly know the results of the latest tournament match or what the professional player we follow had for lunch. With the ability to access information you would think that our view of our sport would get broader. While in some respects it is true, in others it works in almost the opposite way. With all the information competing for your eyeballs, you get exactly what you want. It's almost a bit polarizing in that it's so specific to what you are interested in you get just that. Anything in which you may have a passing interest isn't even that anymore. It's passed over and pushed aside for information just waiting to follow up on what you are looking for. Where to buy this. Where you can get that. So if you don't actively seek something out, do you care that it's out there?

Do you embrace your sport as a culture? Or is it just an hobby. Is it reflective in your identity? Are you a player first? Fairer for us to ask, questions like: Do you share/play your sport with your family? Most friends? Work friends? Does it reflect your clothing off the court? Music? etc.

Today, if you want a specific book or magazine, it's likely to be ordered online. Mostly, a solitary act. There are still big book stores with cafes in them where people come together in large numbers to congregate or do various reading related endeavors. Some of them have large rows of magazines for almost every interest. If you find a large sports section you will find them loaded with skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing lifestyle related magazines, as well as tons of mainstream and very specific interest sports like basketball or hunting. You will find a few golf and maybe two tennis magazines. If the interest magazine you want isn't there, you can always order it online. If there is one.

There are a so many "alternative" sports magazines like skateboarding and surfing because those sports are interwoven and reflective of culture. That opens the door to potentially more diverse readers for various reasons. They are reflective of the culture, much in the manner, that a golfing magazine reflects it's readers. Golf identifies heavily with maturity, money, status and control. A lifestyle some try to cultivate. In some areas, alternative sports reflects contrasting lifestyle views as does golf. Golf reflects having arrived. Alternative sports reflects the journey. This is interesting because in that journey, there is a uniqueness in the kinship generations share. An example of that is the respect surfers have for sea waves and attitude...the reflections run deep in outwardly viewable things like dress and music. Chances are good that, the more numerous your magazine options are for a specific sport, the more broadly tied they are to the culture of the their enthusiasts.

OLD SCHOOL WALL BANGING

Back in the late 70's through the early 80's you would be able to find old style newsstands on the sidewalks of New York City's five boroughs. The chances were pretty good that back then, you would be able to buy a Wallbanger Newspaper for a half buck.  The Wallbanger newspaper, as well as the Racquet Sport Player where basically newspapers that covered Paddleball, Racquetball and Squash in the New York and the surrounding areas during the heyday years. The numbers of readers were pretty high due to the large numbers of paddleball players in NYC.

Paddleball (One Wall, as well as handball,) was very popular in New York City during this time. Paddleball boasted as to having massive tournaments where each borough had to have qualifying tournaments in order to hold a citywide event because of the sheer number of players. These tournaments were so big, sponsors like Budweiser would spend big money at the time for prizes and naming rights. Those big events were truly a reflection of the city's diversity. They were rich with the flavor of NYC's immigrant population and it's history. Paddleball was something that encompassed and embraced the different city neighborhood cultures in one big pot, with around 2000 courts on which to play. Paddleball indeed was created and grew out of that combination of the cultures in the city. 

Those newspapers, though they may seem a bit hokey by today's standards, reflected the culture brilliantly in that they recognized the similarities in sports where you swing a racquet to bang a ball against a wall. Encompassing news from not only paddleball but also racquetball and squash...relatively evenly with identity. The articles where written by players instrumental in their respective sports and highlighted key players and events. They catered to large numbers of players that crossed over and played multiple sports. Reading through them today, you find names that stood the test of time like Hogan, Gonzalez, Schwartz and Khan. The newspapers put all these players together in one place, seemingly similar, in one big culture.

PLAYERS and SHARING

Ruben Gonzalez, who played handball, used racquetball to escape from a polarizing world. Having successfully existed within racquetball throughout all these years, Rubes is open with sharing where he has come from. Marty Hogan, who at the time was a hugely notable figure was brash and cocky. But one thing he always knew and acknowledged was the talented counterparts in the other wall banging sports, and took the time to know them and their relevance. (Put Kane Waselenchuk in a room with Nick Matthews today...what would they talk about?)

Rabbit Trail...

As players in our sports, let's get all philosophical like and ask: Who are we? What are we? Do we dress alike? Off the court? Do we listen to similar types of music?Are we identified with political position? (Ok, that's a little heavy.)

The answer across the board is no. And yes. It's logical to say no as a whole, yet as we look in smaller groups of us, the answers then start to trend towards yes. In these cases the sum of the parts could be more than the number of those parts, when it comes to growing our sports. If we embrace our differences in likes, position, culture and thought it will grow our sports. (The topic of growth and mainstream visibility is prevalent throughout our types of sport.) I know it's easy to say. But actually embracing diversity is never really easy. It requires letting go of some of what we "know" and accepting what others know as a part of us, and living with it. (Ok...let's keep it light...moving on.)

Here at the mag, we like to look directly at people and choose to see what's unique and beautiful, both in groups and individuals because we already know they are the same. We swing a racquet (or paddle). We carry a bag. We meet in groups to play. And we identify with people within our own small groups. But we can be bigger than we think. Media should be used to embrace our differences by getting away from the targeted info. This means actively knowing more about similar sports to say racquetball. Or that could mean trying another form of our sport of racquetball. (Or racketball.) Make it a strength, which means refraining from communicating negatively when talking about the differences.

An easy example would be to look at Rocky Carson, an indoor and outdoor champion. Does he use a different style of play for each or does he combine skills for both? But let's also look at Kane Waselenchuk. We propose that he is so good, that playing outdoor would give him opportunity for assessing and adding to his already creative play. We won't stay on advocacy...only pointing to the way diversity enriches. Arguments aside about messing up swings or game play..enlightenment takes the meat and leaves the bones. It doesn't hinder Rocky. It makes him stronger. How much less or more Kane? And we add kudos to some of the younger players, like Jose Rojas, who have embraced outdoor. Rojas' game has improved dramatically this year and he is still learning what he can do. Is it because this past year he has committed to seriously adding outdoor to his game? AND. We would also like to mention, both the number one and number two ranked women on the WPRO Tour have won outdoor championships.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

We are different yet the same. We have a unique culture. There are a few within our sport who know it and many more are just starting to truly get that and work with it, not just as a novelty. 

Back to us.

Now look at similar racquet sports. Really look. Are we different? Are we the same? How? What would an ESPN Wallbanger look like?

Below see photos of actual newspapers. We will be creating PDFs of them and they will soon be made available to Restrung Magazine members periodically.

Note:

Paddleball is just about gone the way of the Smithsonian in New York City, with a few hanging on. Most of those players who where around and still play, now play One Wall racquetball. Special thanks to Warren Halcomb, to whom these newspapers belong. Warren is also very instrumental with the growth of One Wall racquetball in New York City. Throughout the early and mid-nineties, as the last big events were happening in paddleball, he began advocating OWR to players. NYC's Greenwich Village, became a hot bed of One Wall Racquetball play mostly due to his paternal efforts. Much thanks to him.

Click to view: Use of photos without expressed written consent prohibited.

-----Restrung Magazine