Put in the language of the SAT, consider this analogy: In terms of youth sports, Indiana is to basketball as Texas is to football as California is to volleyball as Chicago is to . . . handball?
That certainly would be the correct answer if Don Quinlan were grading your test. As program director at Lattof YMCA in Des Plaines, Quinlan runs what he calls “the largest youth handball program in the world” and played host last week to the U.S. Handball Association’s National Junior Championships.
“I’m a little prejudiced, but I think Chicago is a major mecca for handball,” Quinlan said. “There are programs popping up all over the country that are kind of modeled after ours.”
About 80 kids from the northwest suburbs participate in Quinlan’s program, and many were among the 128 players in the tournament field. Champions were crowned in five age brackets. Of the 10 finalists, three play in Quinlan’s Y program.
“Our kids are definitely very competitive,” he said.
B.J. Paladino of Des Plaines won the 13-and-under title, topping 26 other players. As the fifth seed, Paladino defeated the top two players-last year’s 13-and-under champ, Andy Nett of Winona, Minn., in the semifinals, and last year’s 11-and-under champ, Chris Tuzzolino of Mt. Prospect, in the finals.
Ryan Cech, also of Des Plaines, was runner-up in the 11-and-under bracket. He said he enjoys Quinlan’s handball program more than participating on school sports teams. “It’s more individual,” he said. “You get to do more.”
The third-seeded Cech lost to the top seed, Dutch Lowy, of College Station, Texas. Lowy, whose father, Lance, coaches handball at Texas A&M, said he plays against his father’s players to tune up for big games. He says he usually loses, but it’s good practice.
Four-wall handball is played on the same court as racquetball and employs the same basic rules. This is no coincidence, Quinlan points out, because racquetball was spawned as an alternative form of handball.
“The rules are similar, but that’s where the similarities end,” Quinlan said. “The actual strategy is totally different. You use both of your hands. The strategy, the hand-eye coordination, the footwork is unmatched in any sport.”
Unlike a mainstream sport such as basketball, whose popularity trickles down merely from the glamour of professional players, even the best handballers toil in relative anonymity in this country. However, in Ireland, it’s a whole new ballgame.
“Handball is one of the four national sports in Ireland,” Quinlan said. “A handball player in Ireland is similar to an NFL quarterback in the U.S.”
Indeed, a team of 13 young Irish players, plus coaches and parents, crossed the Atlantic to participate in the Des Plaines tournament.
Few American high schools offer handball as a varsity sport, Quinlan said, but several colleges recruit handballers for team play. In addition to Lance Lowy, coaches from Lake Forest, Southwest Missouri State and Memphis State scouted players at the national juniors.
Top-level players, even in the youngest age brackets, work long and hard to hone their skills. Tuzzolino said he plays six days a week, and Lowy started playing the sport, under his father’s guidance, when he was just 8.
In the end, said Paladino, winning a championship made it all worthwhile, both to him and his father, who was on hand for the title match.
“He just said, `Good job,’ ” Paladino said. “He asked me, `How does it feel (to win)?’ and I said `Great’! “
