University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Hoopsters Test Toughness With Danneyball
October 3, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 3, 2007
By Adam Lucas
This, it seemed, was the point of exhaustion.
The 2007-08 edition of the Carolina basketball team had just finished a grueling series of 27 timed uphill sprints. Players were bent over, hands on knees. Players grabbed cups of water two at a time from managers. Sweat dripped onto the grass at the outdoor recreation center on the fringe of the UNC campus.
That's when strength and conditioning coach Jonas Sahratian rolled out the Danneyballs.
Officially, they were 10-pound medicine balls. But in the Carolina basketball world, they're Danneyballs. Always looking for new and inventive ways to train the Tar Heels, Sahratian discovered Danneyball while talking to a colleague.
"A friend named Ian Danney (who has worked with boxers and numerous NFL players) invented it," Sahratian says. "It builds conditioning, explosion, lateral change of direction, and competitiveness. It's conditioning we can do without their bodies taking the pounding on the court, and it's something that's fun as opposed to running sprints all the time."
The game, which is played on a sand volleyball court, is relatively simple. It's very similar to volleyball, except players catch the ball and then hurl it back over the net. They must catch and throw the 10-pound ball all in one motion--a bobble results in the other team gaining the chance to serve. Like volleyball, points can only be scored while a team is serving and all serving players must have their feet touching the baseline. Each game lasts exactly eight minutes regardless of the score.
It's nowhere near as easy to play as it is to describe.
For Tuesday's activities, Sahratian divided the Tar Heels into six two-man teams. The outdoor recreation center has three side-by-side courts, so all 12 players were able to participate at once.
The trash-talking began immediately. When he was paired with Alex Stepheson and matched against Tyler Hansbrough and Marc Campbell, Bobby Frasor chirped, "Uh-oh, this is the best game right here. Get the cameras ready. This one is in primetime."
Frasor had the advantage of having played before--during summer workouts, several of the current Tar Heels played Danneyball with alums David Noel and Marvin Williams, among others.
"David or Marvin are probably the best Danneyball players," Frasor says. "If you're an athlete, you'll be good at it. And they are freakish athletes."
Some of the sophomore class had less substantial exposure to the game, which resulted in some early rule clarifications for players like Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington. Their competitiveness quickly made up for being a little fuzzy on the rules. When Lawson served an ace that split Deon Thompson and Ellington, he barked, "We've got some aces over here! The first ace in Danneyball history is right here!"
 Tyler Hansbrough serves the first point of the championship game.  |
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The six-team event quickly turned into a tournament, as winners were matched against winners and losers against losers. The world championship pitted the team of Hansbrough and Campbell against Marcus Ginyard and Surry Wood.
Hansbrough plays the game exactly the way you would expect, with maximum effort and tosses that push the opponent back to the baseline. As he's played more frequently, he's learned to mix in the occasional drop shot.
"Tyler was horrible when he first played," Sahratian says. "Now he's probably the best player out here, because he's adapted his skills to the way the game is played."
Hansbrough's effort and Campbell's tricky offspeed serve pushed their team out to an early 5-1 lead. But Ginyard and Wood rallied, eventually closing to 5-4 just as time was about to expire. With only enough time remaining for one point--a potentially championship-tying point--Wood served, but Ginyard was called for a bobble on the return, clinching the title for Hansbrough and Campbell.
There was surprisingly little trash talking from the victors. Instead, they just grabbed the nearest cup of water, put their shoes back on, and took a quick moment to rest before climbing the hill back to the parking lot.
"Hey guys, don't forget we've got the Carolina Mile later this week," Sahratian said.
His players just nodded. Practice begins in 10 days.
Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven will be released on October 1. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
