2020 was well, 2020. Grand-kids attended school/classes from home from late March until late May. After that, almost all normal summer activities were cancelled. The youngest grand-daughter typically would have had both her summer swim season as well as summer league volleyball. All cancelled. Instead, she babysat her two brothers, then in turn, the boys babysat me. Oldest grand-daughter found a pretty good summer job. I think it was to stay away from the chaos.

 

Anyways, about mid June, the new, H.S. Volleyball, 1st year as head coach, contacted the team and recommended they each construct a "re-bounder" to practice various skill-sets. Details would be forth-coming (they never did) She also expected each player to send still pictures as well as videos using said re-bounder.

 

So, between You-tube and Duck-Duck-Go/Google, I located enough information and some sketched plans to build my first (and last) volleyball re-bounder.

 

It was made of wood, it was a project and it was work...ultimately it also did. I took a few pictures.

 

Nothing much to see here. I went a little beefier than most showed using 2x6 vs 2x4. Less bracing needed plus I

suspected the grandsons would find their own uses too (they did).

 

I scored a slightly  bowed 3/4" x 4x8 sheet of plywood in the discount bin. It was cheaper than

a sheet of 1/2' CDX or a "good", pre-cut 3/4" 4x4 piece. I only needed one good 4x4 section anyway.

You can see the bow after I split the sheet.

Nothing much to see here. My old B&D Workmate (1/3) with my version of hold down clamps. Pretty basic

build; 45* on the angles.

Hold-downs in use. H-F 8" Drill Press clamps with a 3/4" OD steel bushing to fit the dog holes,

couple of 1/2" ID washers with nuts on the underside.

 

Completed carcass. No nails, all exterior screws including the few pocket holes used.

After contemplating the use of this plus it would be outside (albeit covered when not in use), I decided if I used

enough clamps and some longer screws I could use the bowed plywood section thus saving the good piece

for a future project of some sort.

 

Last picture. Had to relocate clamps on each side as I moved down from the top with screws, then finish with

a row of screws down the middle. None pulled through nor popped the heads off.

 

I have some pictures (& video) somewhere of her using it we made to "prove"she was working out.

It actually worked very well for her needs. Boys ran cars up & down including RC units besides other creative

games they came up with. I drew the line though when they attempted to ride their bikes up & over.

 

Thanks for looking. BTW, I disassembled it earlier this fall. I can re-purpose most of it for ???? Plywood sheet

flattened out pretty well too.

Cool project, Dave!  When I was a kid, I never heard of volleyball. It was baseball or football 

We played volleyball in Iraq like it was baseball or American Football.  Every night teams went at it for several hours.  

1 hour ago, lew said:

Cool project, Dave!  When I was a kid, I never heard of volleyball. It was baseball or football 

Thanks Lew. Volleyball is the main sport for girls in the fall akin to football for the guys at least in Indiana. However, some of the large high schools in the state now offer volleyball for the boys. We had it as an intramural sport only when I was in Junior High (middle school they call it now) Teams were co-ed and a mix of 7th & 8th grade students. Our (my) team won the school championship when I was in the 8th grade.

 

Moved to a rural school my Sophomore year. K-12 in one building and yes there was more than one room. Four sports were offered for 9th-12th grade guys. Cross-Country, basketball, baseball & track. Title 9 was not in place then, so no organized, sanctioned girls sports. There was one H.S. in our district that had football. 

Football was my HS sport. Wanted to try out for  B-Ball but our coach..same coach as football.. wouldn't let me. Said I'd trip over the lines. Agility wasn't my forte. And, volleyball was solely the province of the girls. Title 9? What's that? No such nonsense in the '50s.

Nice project Dave.