The World’s Top Outdoor Handball Stars Head to Las Vegas’ 2017 WPH/WOR 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships Preview + Rules
Las Vegas, WPH Press, 9/14/17- The World Players of Handball and World Outdoor Racquetball are proud to present the eighth edition of the 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from September 20-24, 2017. The 2017 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships will feature multiple junior handball and racquetball clinics throughout the five-day event, the Men’s and Women’s X-Fest III Small Ball and Big Ball 3WallBall and 1WallBall Xrossover competition, junior, amateur and age division Men’s and Women’s Handball WallBall divisions, professional and amateur Men’s and Women’s Racquetball WallBall divisions and Men’s and Women’s Paddleball divisions. WallBall’s most exciting event promises to be the most exciting event in eight-year history of the championships, with hundreds of players competing from across the globe and thousands of fans taking in the action.
Entry Deadline (no additional fee: Sept 16th) HERE
Hotel group code deadline: Sept 15th
X-Fest III
The X-Fest III will determine WallBall’s best all-around player in an exciting four division, two-ball, four-code format, counting the men’s and women’s best three out of four events in 1WallBall and 3WallBall Small Ball and Big Ball singles. The X-Fest III’s champion will have demonstrated the ability to master all of WallBall’s different handball games. “The X-Fest is very similar to the decathlon at the Olympics,” stated New York’s WPH Outdoor #2 pro Timbo Gonzalez. “You really have to know how to adjust to the different balls and different courts in order to do well. I’d love to become the X-Fest champion for the second time.”
The Favorites
WPH Outdoor #3 Juan Santos will be seeking his fifth 3WallBall Handball World Championship and fifth WPH Outdoor Player’s Cup title in six years in the 3WallBall Men’s Pro Singles, while New York’s WPH Outdoor #2 pro Timbo Gonzalez will seek to defend his 1WallBall singles title, while aiming for his first 3WallBall 3-Wall singles title at the Stratosphere. Both Santos and Gonzalez will be favorites to not only defend their 2016 titles, but also to claim the X-Fest III overall title. Joining Santos and Gonzalez in the quest for WallBall supremacy and the X-Fest III overall title will be WPH Outdoor stars Samzon Hernandez, Sal Duenas, Chava Cordova, and Shorty Ruiz, Race 4 Eight stars Mando Ortiz, Sean Lenning, Luis Cordova, Daniel Cordova, Vic Perez, Abraham Montijo, Marcos Chavez, and 1-Wall superstars Ruben “El Matador” Valdez, Tywan Cook, Joe Kaplan, George Figueroa, Andres Calle, Chris Show, Mike Schneider, and Billy O’Donnell.
The Women’s X-Fest features the strongest women’s fields in the eight-year history of the 3WallBall Championships. Current WPH Women’s Outdoor #1 Tracy Davis, will be joined in the tremendous women’s draw by outdoor women’s stars Danielle Daskalakis, Sandy Ng, Jenny Qu, Dr. Ashley Moler, Martina McMahon, Veronica Figueroa, Suz Koehler, Crystal Ruiz, and Bernice Torres.
The Race for the Men’s and Women’s WPH Player’s Cup will come down to which WPH Outdoor pros can perform at their best in Sin City, as a number of men’s and women’s WPH Outdoor stars in the running for the respective Player’s Cups. Read about the Race to the Cup scenarios here
To see the full list of 3WallBall Champions, go here
Junior Clinics
The 2017 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships will kickoff on Wednesday night, September 20, with the fourth annual combined handball and racquetball clinic for more than 50 high school students in the greater Las Vegas area. Handball and Racquetball’s top coaches will be on hand to coach and inspire the teenagers, teaching the fundamentals of the sport and how to develop a physically active and healthy lifestyle through WallBall sports. Saturday night at the 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships will feature the emotional and powerful Armed Forces Military Tribute, honoring our heroes that protect and serve our country and enable us to enjoy the freedom to do what we love.
“The 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships in epic,” stated women’s top five racquetball pro Michelle Key. “It’s the biggest event we have in outdoor and it’s probably the biggest event we have in racquetball and it keeps growing and getting bigger and bigger. Nothing comes close to what they do here at the 3WallBall Championships.”
“The 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships was a court sports dream just eight years ago and that dream has become a reality, combining handball, racquetball, and paddleball in the biggest event in court sports,” stated WPH Executive Director David Vincent. “If you ask the players and fans, just about each one will tell you that this is their favorite event of the year.”
See everyone at the Stratosphere!
2017 Vegas Rules
All Players are encouraged to purchase or renew their WPH memberships
Eye protection is mandatory in practice and tournament games: failure to wear eye protection could result in forfeiture from the event
Must wear WPH gear on the broadcast court
Two 60-second timeouts per game, three minutes between games/halftime
Scoring Formats
3WallBall Big Ball:
12-12-12, rally, win by one in all games
One serve only, no second serves
3WallBall Small Ball:
15-15-15, traditional non-rally, win by two in all games
First serve is open, after scoring a point, the next serve goes into the opposite quadrant
One serve only, no second serves
1WallBall Big Ball and Small Ball:
One game to 25, traditional non-rally scoring, win by 2
If the serve is short or long, the server has a second serve, If the serve hits the ground first or is outside the side lines, side out
Halftime when the first player scores 15 (3 minutes), whoever served first to start the match is receiving after halftime
Player will not, under any circumstances, call their own blocks-that is the referee’s job
“Wipes” are ok, make them quick
X-Fest Rankings Per Event: Your best 3 of 4 count towards overall standings
1st: 10 points, 2nd: 8 points, tied 3rd: 6 points, tied 5th: 4 points
For further questions on X-Fest scoring and rankings, please see Dave Vincent or David Fink
2017 RULES AND PROTOCOL: All players/All Divisions – A Must Read
Eye ware is mandatory during all matches in all divisions. Eye ware is also mandatory during all warm ups and practice games. First offense for not wearing eye protection is a warning, second offense is a forfeiture from the event per Stratosphere Insurance & Stratosphere Security
The World Players of Handball or Stratosphere Security reserve the right to remove any player or fan from the premises for gambling without a permit to do so. Alcohol can be purchased and consumed on premises only. Bringing your own cooler full of spirits is not allowed by the Stratosphere; No referee shall be a part of any bets or gambling. This is a criminal act and will be treated as fraud. A referee is described as the lead ref, line judge or instant replay judge. This will result in a termination from the event indefinitely; please report to event staff if you witness betting
Players must report to the tournament desk 15 minutes before their scheduled start time or could be subject to a forfeit. A player forfeited from one division may be removed from all divisions; lose ranking points, trophies and cash. A player that forfeits in a money round will not receive cash
A player who shows up to their match 10 minutes late can be forfeited from the match; a player who shows up for their match after the scheduled court time shall not be granted warm up time and their opponent is given a point for every minute they are late (minutes to be calculated starting 10 minutes after the conclusion of the previous match or at the top of the schedule hour, in the favor of the late player); See Tournament officials for rule clarification
All who enter this event are doing so knowing that they are or could be filmed live or later playback. Your image or likeness can be used to promote the sport of handball. Playing means, you agree
All players on the show court must wear WPH approved clothing. If you are sponsored by a third party, please have your approved WPH logo on your shirt or clothing. No offensive clothing shall ever be displayed during a live filmed match; WPH reserves the right to remove a player from an event for not appropriately wearing proper gear. A removal could equal a suspension, ranking point deduction, forfeits, trophy & cash deletion
Losers must referee on the same court and be ready within 5 minutes after the loss to start the next match, no exceptions. Refs from the previous match must have the score card ready for the next match to immediately present to the loser
In the case of round robin, the winner will be determined by the player/team with the most victories. In the case of a tie, the player with the most combined points from their first two games will be used, then head-to-head matchups to break any further ties
Instant replay may be available for those on the show court during WPH Filmed matches. Please ask if Instant replay is available for your match. If so, a player can challenge twice per match; if successful, a player can keep challenging until two unsuccessful challenges occur. WPH broadcast booth will phone New York for a decision. If the booth is undecided or neutral with the ref’s call than the Player will lose that challenge
There are no warnings in Vegas; Refs will call avoidable, foot-faults, etc, as they see them; there are no discussions with referees over calls; a referee will say, “resume play,” and then call the score. A server can serve after the score is called. If the arguing player is serving, the ref can call, “side-out” to move the game along. Referees that engage in a back-n-forth dialogue with an arguing player can be removed from the event
See the USHA Rulebook for all other rules
WPH Staff: David Vincent, David Fink, Tom Flores, Steve Soto
For more information, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at wph@race4eight.com, World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at fink@race4eight.com or WPH Outdoor Director Tom Flores at flores@wphlive.tv. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer