Roland Hughes discovers that in this cross-bred new sport, everyone can dunk.
Like ice hockey, on a basketball court, with trampolines: it's Slamball, and it's here.
The obscure sport, seemingly designed by a teenager with lots of resources to burn, made its debut on the Dubai-based Showtime network two months ago, making the UAE one of the few countries in the world able to follow such names as Stan "Shakes" Fletcher, Sean "Inches" Jackson and Gerrie "Crucial" Herring.
"If I had to explain it, basically I would say it is a hybrid sport that developed from basketball, ice hockey and American football," says Andy Warkman, head of sport for Showtime. "The ball never goes dead because you have got perspex hoardings around the court, like ice hockey. It is a full-contact sport, like American football. And there is an obvious link to basketball."
Jumping high has never been a problem for basketball stars; Slamball gives the most vertically-challenged of its players, who include former professional ice hockey and American football players, the opportunity to slam dunk. Four trampolines under each hoop let players fly towards the basket; defenders and attackers often collide mid-air in spectacular fashion. Play takes place on a 100-foot-long court, and there are four players on each team. Current teams include The Mob, The Maulers and The Slashers - subtle.
Slamball matches, which are made up of two eight-minute halves, start with a "slam-off" in the centre circle. During Slamball broadcasts, lurid visuals scream off the screen. The game's garishness would not be out of place in a Schwarzenegger movie in which Arnold must Slam to the death. "The people who developed it wanted a sport that felt like a computer game," explains Warkman. "And, when you see people flying up off trampolines - it is almost like a human computer game. There is a 'wow factor' about it. Look at what Michael Jordan did on a basketball court - and he didn't even have a trampoline."
Slamball is perhaps one of the first sports to have been referenced in a science-fiction film before it actually existed. Characters from Back to the Future Part II mention a sport called slamball, and there was meant to be a scene in the film where the time traveller Marty McFly plays the game: like racquetball, minus gravity, plus magnetic shoes. But the director, Robert Zemeckis, decided it would cost too much.
It wasn't until early in this young century that the sport promoter Mason Gordon redesigned a Los Angeles warehouse to stage the first real Slamball tournament. Talented basketball players from the streets of LA were hired to man the teams, and a TV producer friend of Gordon's talked an obscure American channel into broadcasting the event. Slamball has gone through several high and lows in its infancy. It gained a loyal audience after a while, then got dropped. But since the CBS channel started broadcasting the sport this year, it has gained a bigger worldwide audience. Apparently, Italy genuinely loves it. Showtime has been broadcasting hours and hours of uninterrupted slamming since mid-August and is set to continue.
"I used to work for the Extreme Sports Channel," says Warkman. "We would get all sorts of weird things submitted there, like Extreme Lawnmower Racing, that would never, ever work. I saw this and just thought it would work really, really well. "Showsports 4 is quite an action channel, with fast cars, adrenalin sport and things like WWE wrestling and Ultimate Fighting Championship. I knew it would fit there."
The sport still has no international governing body or official leagues; right now all games are technically exhibitions. But there are plans for a formal league to start next year, by which point Warkman hopes interest in Slamball will have reached fever pitch in the UAE. For now, the lack of a system that records viewing figures in the UAE means Showtime can judge the sport only by word of mouth. Warkman says the response has been positive: "I have sat in public when Slamball has been on, in bars for example, where people just stare at the screen and ask 'What is this?' - and carry on watching. It is visually spectacular. There has been a really positive response - to people in the office who are getting really interested, to members of the public who have been e-mailing in to say how much they like it
"Basketball fans might think it takes their sport in the wrong direction. But, generally, it does appeal."
Warkman says he can easily imagine the day when Slamball is played on the streets of Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Who knows? It is difficult to argue that slamball is not oddly addicting. Maybe, in a few years, a generation of Emirati fans will look up to their parents and say: "I want to be the next Chris 'Ghetto Bird' Young."
rhughes@thenational.ae