GORILLA GAMES

Rocball Gorilla Games News Release:……..1/25/09

Evenflow took the "Gorilla" out of the Ghasias Brothers Saturday night in a sudden death overtime set. The game point between teams after four quarters of play was tied 99 – 99. Evenflow snatched the victory off a serve from Mariano Lisua that was deflected into the Brothers' goal: Overtime sets are won by a team that scores 10 points or a goal whichever comes first.

In the first set, Evenflow shot out to 26 to 16 win giving them a ten-point margin of comfort going into the second set. The Ghasias Brothers took the second set 26 to 25 and chipped the game point lead down to 9.

In the third set, the Ghasias Brothers came from behind and won the set with a four-point margin 29 to 25. And, with their third set win, the Brothers cut a little deeper into Evenflow's lead ending the third set 76 to 71.

Under the quarter/set rules of Rocball play, a team not only has to outscore their opponents in game points, they must also win the fourth set "juice-out" to win the game. The Ghasias Brothers needed to win the fourth set by six points for closure and Evenflow only had to win the fourth set to win the game.

The Ghaisias Brothers did mange to win the fourth set, but only by 5 points. The Ghasias Brothers won set four 28 to 23 and forced the game into overtime. Even though the Ghasias Brothers won 3 out of the four sets of regular play, this ain't volleyball and it's not rally point scoring, its Rocball and Rocball lives off it's own rules of play.

Because teams were tied at the end of the fourth, only one set of overtime was needed to determine the winner. Evenflow had the lead 7 to 2 in overtime when Mariano brought the game to completion with a goal and Evenflow took home the $50. The next game will be in two weeks with Evenflow as host Gorilla.

Islanders juice out Soul Rebels

By Roselyn Monroyo
Reporter / Saipan Tribune

The Islanders became the first team to win two in a row in "Gorilla Games" in the World Organized Rocball Community League after crushing the Soul Rebels in four sets, 100-65, Saturday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

The Islanders notched their first win in "Gorilla Games, two weeks ago, dislodging Jan. 25 winner Evenflow from the top with a 98-91 juiced out win.

"Gorilla Games" started the first week of January with 2008-2009 Rocball league champion Ghasias Brothers pulling off a 108-84 victory over first challenger Okies in double overtime.

When Brothers attempted to defend the bragging rights in "Gorilla Games, Evenflow entered the picture, stunning the league champions with a 109-101 overtime win.

But Evenflow's reign in "Gorilla Games" did not last long, as the Islanders came out smoking with a 17-point juiced-out win early this month.

When "Gorilla Games" resumed Saturday, the Islanders' guns were still blazing.

The Islanders prevailed in the opening set, 25-23, before the Soul Rebels recovered in the second set in similar scores.

In third set, the Islanders pushed all the right buttons en route to a dominating win, 26-4.

Entering the fourth set, the Islanders were ahead, 74-50, putting pressure to Soul Rebels to win the last regular set to send the game into overtime.

The Islanders took an early lead in the fourth set, 10-4, before the Soul Rebels rallied and moved within one, 10-11.

The Soul Rebels kept the Islanders within striking distance in the ensuing plays, before the latter pulled away, limiting the former to four points in the closing phase of the match en route to a 26-15 win.

Former Ghasias Brothers mainstay Freddie Pelisamen suited up for the Islanders in Saturday's game and was the match's heavy hitter, scoring 23 points. He had nine kees, one ace, and one goal.

Fifteen aces and 25 kees were scored in the game.

The Islanders will face a new challenger next month, as "Gorilla Games" allow losing teams to rest for a month before returning to play.

Besides the right to defend its biweekly title, the winning team in "Gorilla Games" takes home $50 cash.

Islanders Rex Regis

The Islanders are the Rex Regis (kings) and rulers of Rocball’s court of action. The Islanders and Fanians met on Saturday night to determine which team would walk off with the World Title, prize money, and bragging rights as Rocball’s best team of 2009. But, the Fanians forced the Islanders into a situation where no team has even come close to this year. The Fanians forced the Islanders into double overtime before losing the game.

In the first set of the regular game, the Fanians took an early lead and trounced the Islanders with a hard lesson of reality, and drew first blood with a 25 to 14 win. The Islanders came back in the second set and put up a good mixture of backcourt spikes, net kills and dinks to outscore the Fanians in set two 28 to 24

At half time the Fanians had the lead in game points 49 to 42 and started off the third set with serve. In the third set, teams switched the lead numerously, both teams were mixing up their plays and making good defensive saves and hard hits. The Fanians had the momentum in the last series of plays. The Fanians were trailing 19 to 20 when Julius Saito scored a three point goal that gave Fanians the morale boosting energy to finish the Islanders off in the third set at 26 to 20.

The Fanians went into the fourth set leading in game points 75 to 62. The Islanders were at a disadvantage because in order to win the game, they needed to win the fourth set by 14 points. If the Islanders won the fourth set with anything less than 14 points, they could force the Fanians into overtime, because a team cannot juice out, win a Rocball game in a losing set under the quarter/set rules of play. However, the Islanders would still be at a disadvantage because winning the fourth set as the team with the lowest game points after four sets of play, meant they would have to win two overtime sets to win the game.

The Fanians only needed to win the fourth set to win the game and knock the Islanders out of their undefeated winning streak of the bi-weekly Gorilal Games. But, as it happened fate was not with the Fanians. The Islanders were desperate and dangerous. They played their best under pressure and won the fourth set 25 to 16.

In overtime, the Islanders were ruthless. They took the lead and put a series of plays together that shocked the Fanians with a 12 to 1 first O.T. win; in Rocball an O.T. set is won at ten points or a goal, whichever is scored first, when no goal is scored, a team as in regular sets of play, cannot win set or game without the serve.

In the final set of the game, teams traded the lead twice with hard spikes to the each other’s goals. And, both teams scored defensively, but it was offensive scoring that made the difference, and the Islanders had a few more different moves than the Fanians. In the last O.T. the Fanians did better but lost 10 to 6. At the end of the second O.T. the final score was Islanders 110 and Fanians 108.

The game lasted an hour and 30 minutes. There were seven aces, 12 kees, and 2 goals scored. The game’s heavy hitter was Jazz Rosokow with one ace and four kees: Next on the agenda for the Rocball players is to issue a challenge to the beach masters with a Rocball version of playing in a sand box. Who do we contact?

James W. Feger

Rocball’s Prominence & Dominance

In the sport of Rocball, a team has to completely dominate their opponents in quarter-sets of play in order to win a game.

In what has been described as a variation of volleyball or a volleyball/hybrid sport, Rocball’s deviant and rogue rules of play are based on a balance of challenges that clearly defines teams in either the offensive or defensive situation of competition.

Rocball “Saipan’s Own Sport” is the first game in the world to implement offensive and defensive scoring in this kind of team net sport, and it is now the only sport of this kind which maintains that the serve is the catalyst by which competition is best served: A team cannot win a set or game without the serve.

Whereas, volleyball was designed as a soft impact sport for middle age men back in 1895 and adopted the rally point system for softer competition in 1995; Rocball’s development was based on the Maya/Aztec warrior’s sport of Talachtli with the unimpaired, hard-drive components of the pre and post puberty syndromes of young athletes, fueled by natural human growth hormones.

Whereas, volleyball’s equation of profit per play is limited to one point executions off any possible athletic skill, at any level of difficulty, from any area on court by simply grounding the ball on an opponent’s court, Rocball implemented multiple point scoring techniques that identify the different degrees of difficulty of grounding a ball on an opponent’s court, and a Rocball court includes three dimensional vertical areas of play, goals, at either end of the court.

Whereas, volleyball is bogged down in a monotonous bump, set, spike three hit numb-lock repetitious mind set, Rocball play includes five hit plays to allow more diversity in game strategies, more spontaneous active and reactive scenarios in both offensive and defensive scoring, and has implemented more unpredictable dramatic activity in this kind of team net sport than volleyball.

What is Rocball? You can read and/or down-load the rules, regulations, and graphics of how Rocball is played on the internet. The Rocball homepage has been recently revised and you can connect to it by using Google, Yahoo, MSN etc. or find more materials in news releases on forums of volleyballforums.com in general discussion under “Wooden Stakes, Silver Bullets, and Hemlock, or about.com volleyball in general discussion under Rocball, or volleyball.com.au in general discussion under volleyball/soccer all by Feger.

What Rocball isn't, is that it is not the sissy sport FIVB implemented with rally point volleyball on either a hardcourt or sandcourt.

In “Saipan’s Own Sport” there are more thrills to skills incorporated in play than any other variation of the Meso-American Aztec sport that gave birth to volleyball, any where else in the world. Saipan’s Own Sport is the leader of innovations and it’s called Rocball.

In volleyball the equation of profit per play is limited to one point executions off any possible athletic skill, at any level of difficulty, from any area on court. When Rocball implemented offensive and defensive scoring and multiple point scoring techniques in this type of team net sports, one of its primary purposes was to identify the different degrees of difficulty inherent but inhibited in the competitive and athletic skills of the game and its players under the old side-out system of volleyball and further constrained under the rally point system of volleyball.

The points of proof comes from the Rocball players ability to score two point aces, two point backcourt plays, and three point goals in addition to one point court plays. And, in Rocball, with one exception, the net value of the sport comes from the serve. A ball has to be served over the net to initiate competition and a team cannot win a set or game without the serve.

This year Ben Lisua and Myron Laniyo, good examples of Rocball’s current and past “Master Blasters”, exemplify the artful ability of competing in the sport that preceded rally point anemic by a dozen years. Ben Lisua of team Soul Rebels is this years first and only master of scoring. Ben has scored at least once in each of the five different scoring categories of Rocball. Ben has scored aces, xunks, kees, goals, and the jam. A “jam” has proven to be the most difficult of plays to complete. The jam is a defensive play made by a player at the net that can spike down a served ball.

Myron Laniyo of No-Mercy is this year’s leading scorer by heavy hitting in games with a total of eleven aces, ten xunks, thirty two kees, and four goals for total of one hundred and twenty two points, averaging about twenty five points a game in aces, xunks, kees, and goals in addition to Myron’s one point court scoring.

In Rocball games completed last week, No-Mercy came from behind in the fourth set of their game with the Projects to win and juice-out in four sets. The Projects had the lead going into the fourth set 44 to 36 and only had to win the final set to win their fifth consecutive game. But,

No-Mercy, lead by veterans Myron Laniyo, David Tisa, and Ichnis Kapwich lead the drive to win the fourth set 16 to 6, a ten point margin, which gave No-Mercy a game point total of 52 to the Projects ending fourth quarter game point score of 50, and caused the Projects their first loss in Rocball.

In the game between the Soul Rebels and CPC, the Soul Rebels with “Master Blaster” Ben Lisua defeated CPC in four sets 69 to 38. The Soul Rebels won the game in a shut-out by winning all four sets 16 to 11, 18 to 6, 16 to 6 and 19 to 15. The heavy hitter of the game was John Nekaifes of the Soul Rebels with 3 aces and 6 kees for 18 points.

No-Mercy and the Projects are tied for first place with four wins and one loss each. The Fanians are in second place with three wins and no losses but need more games to play to hold their league position , and the team One-Way is in third place with four wins and four losses with one game left to play in the season.

News release: I wrote a statement that rally point scoring scoring is for sissys and posted it for a volleyball forum on the internet. The original statement read as follows:

Is Volleyball’s rally point scoring for Sissys?

Give the serving team in volleyball closure and eliminate the two-point margin win rule. Volleyball had a balance of challenges when the serving team had set and game closure.

It doesn't make any sense to allow a set or game to be won if a team cannot serve a ball over a net. That kind of rule may be okay for tennis or ping-pong where rackets and paddles are used, but volleyball shouldn't have to be subjected to this kind of inactive and default system of closure.

Volleyball used to be a game where a team had to have the courage to serve a ball over the net and challenge their opponents for the score. In fact, volleyball used to be a game where a team couldn't score a point if a ball wasn't served over the net. And, a volleyball game couldn't be won unless the service team scored a point off a ball served over the net.

The existing rules of closure for rally-point scoring, has sissified the sport.

In response to the above statement, one or more rally point advocates posted their arguments supporting volleyball's rally point method of play and I responded.

Forum: Rally point scoring makes for better, more precise and consistent players.

Forum: If each player is accountable for their actions and plays by earning or losing a point they will become better ball players.

Feger: Players on the team in service, have the responsibility of securing the scoring advantages for their team. Players on the receiving team try to win service for their team for the scoring advantages of the serve and have no less an important objective. When teams understand that a set or game cannot be won without service, the importance of their individual skills and teamwork takes on more difficult and different tactical purposes.

Forum: Serving is a basic skill and I can understand an error if trying for placement or an advanced serves, but getting it over the net should not be an issue.

Feger: The serve is the catalyst of this sport. It is the one competitive feature of this team net sport that separates it from other team net sports. In table tennis, the serve involves two bounces for a game to get started and at least one bounce thereafter to maintain competition. In tennis, the serve involves one bounce for the game to get started and one or two bounces to maintain competition. Volleyball doesn’t need a bounce serve or any feature associated with a sport that has a bounce serve. The rally-point scoring system and the let serve's origins of play are imbedded in the two-bounce game.

Lets take out the ping-pong plays and put the courage back into volleyball. A team must serve the ball over the net and challenge their opponents for set or game point. If you are on the service team, this is when you want your best server in action. If you are on the receiving team, this is when you want your best ball handlers in position.

Forum: To many coaches overlook the value of the serve. Rally scoring lets the outstanding servers earn their place on the court.

Feger: I agree with the concept of incorporating offensive and defensive scoring, either team can score off the serve or during volley, but every serve need not be a point. With specific rules and under certain conditions, a penalty would be awarded for a bad serve.

I’m not a person to defend the side-out rules of play, But the side-out server had an immense responsibility to his teammates and their effort for winning a game. If a team in a game of side-out volleyball lost the serve, they give up the scoring advantage and the possibility of winning a set or game.

And, there is absolutely no reason why the service team of either system of play should not have set or game closure.

Once again, remarks that rally-point scoring makes better volleyball players, sound like a rote response. It isn’t a logical conclusion based on facts and its something that seems to have been memorized as a “learned knee jerk” reaction to avoid producing empirical evidence and clarification.

It is a well known fact, that the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB), the world governing body of volleyball, did not develope or introduce offensive and defensive scoring in volleyball. In Canada, officials and coaches are arguing for service team closure under rally point scoring. And, in Arizona, a women's league is experimenting with two point backcourt scoring. It sounds and feels like Rocball is in the making to me.

Jim Feger

The Sandroc Opener

Rocball opened up the 2010 sporting events for the CNMI on the beach of the Pacific Islands Club. On January 1st, Rocball restarted its beach version of “Saipan’s Own Sport” on the main beach volleyball court of the Pacific Islands Club.

Four teams came to start off the CNMI’s sport’s year; the Fanians, No-Mercy, Ballseye, and the Projects. The rules for beach Rocball had to be modified to fit the playing conditions of a sand court. Sandroc (Rocball in the sand) rules of play have four players, and the server is also the goalie; no other player is allowed to play in the area between the goal and the court end lines except the server, and the server is allowed to play anywhere on the court.

The receiving team has two hits off a served ball, the goalie is the only player allowed to set off a served ball, and each team is allowed five hits after the receiving team is successful in returning a served ball back over the net in two hits: Any time a server scores on court, it is two points. Other than that, any player can score a three point goal or a volleyball court point, and the net player for the receiving team can “jam”, spike down, a served ball.

Sandroc is a four set game played under the quarter/set system of play. A team can “juice-out”, win a game after four sets of play, if after fours sets they outscore their opponents in game points and win the fourth set; game points are calculated by adding up the sets scores: A team cannot win a game in a losing set and when either team fails to juice-out, the game goes into overtime.

The team that couldn’t juice-out but had scored the most game points would need to win one overtime set, and the team that won the fourth set with the least amount of game points scored, would need to win two overtime sets: An overtime set is won by a team which scores ten points or a goal, whichever comes first. And, if no goals are scored, as in regular play, only the team in service has closure.

Because there were only four teams, the Sandroc games were organized under the quarter/set rules of play with 25 points per set. And, because there wasn’t a need to modify games into any timed scheduled or three set games, players were challenged with games that took from 45 minutes to an hour to complete, not counting any overtime sets.

The Fanians came out on top and left the court as this decade’s first Sandroc champions. The Fanians won all four of there games. No-Mercy came in second place losing to the Fanians in the championship game played late Sunday afternoon in four sets 76 to 50.

The heavy hitters of the Sandroc games prior to the playoff games were Myron Laniyo of No-Mercy with 9 aces, 3 xunks, 11 keys, and 2 goals for 52 points and Dior Jones of the Fanians, a former Rocball player now residing in Guam, who came to Saipan for the Rocball Sandblaster’s tournament, scored 9 aces, 2 xunks, 5 kees, and 1 goal for 35 points.

But, in the Championship game between the Fanians and No-Mercy, it was Dior Jones who broke away from the pack in Rocball’s heavy hitting scoring techniques. Dior, who played on Guam’s Junior National Volleyball team and now works at the Pacific Islands Club on Guam, scored 10 aces, 3 xunks, 8 kees, and 2 goals for 51 points. Dior’s former Rocball team, when he used to be a student at MHS, was the Black Magic.