(WSVN) - We’ve heard of many obscure sports but this one might take the cake, and the man who created it got the idea while sleeping.
The name of the sport says it all.
“It’s the word hand and net and ball,” said Hanetball founder Fritz Valdeus Jr. “Instead of writing hand, net, ball together, we use short versions of the name, so the name of the sport is Hanetball 360.”
Hanetball was born in South Florida in 2006 by Valdeus — a Haitian inventor.
Valdeus firmly believes his obscure sport will be the next big thing.
“It’s a sport that’s gonna be experienced to the highest level in the world,” he said. “We believe that if we can take some of the athletes that don’t make it into existing professional sports, if we can give them a room where they can come and play sports professional, we are headed that way.”
Played with two teams of seven, the object of Hanetball 360 is simple — score points by grounding the ball inside what looks like a playpen which is guarded by a keeper.
“The uniqueness of the sport really makes it that much more fun, because there’s not another sport like it,” said player Evenson Augustin.
This is probably why play-by-play announcer Dave LaMont covers the sport so much.
“That’s what’s fun about it,” LaMont said. “There’s so many different sports going on here at the same time. The clock never stops, therefore, the action never stops, so no, first time I saw this, I wasn’t sure what in the world you call something like this, but it’s actually rather easy to do.”
Played competitively in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, this past weekend the sport held its first official HBA360 League Games at Rick Case Arena on the Nova Southeastern University campus.
“We have women leagues and men leagues,” Valdeus said. “By next year, we’re gonna merge those leagues. It will be the first co-ed sports on amateur and professional levels where women and men will get paid the same amount.”
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