Two tchoukball teams from Old Bridge traveled to Woodbridge, Conn., earlier this month to compete in the second annual U.S. championships, with a local entry bringing home the championship for the second straight year.
Tchoukball, which was created in Switzerland, combines elements of handball, volleyball and squash, according to Rich Torok, a physical education teacher at Old Bridge High School who has promoted the game locally.
“It’s a great game, but not too many people here in America know much about it,” Torok said. “Besides our two teams, the championships included teams from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut.”
He added that the game is played in many countries across the globe, including Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, India, Italy, the United Kingdom and much of Asia.
Games are comprised of three, 15-minute periods. Each team fields seven players and is permitted to make three passes before shooting each time it gets the ball. Players can take three steps while holding the ball, but they cannot hold the ball for more than three seconds. To score, a shot must hit a 3-by-3-foot trampoline-like goal and the ball must hit the ground.
Defenders may catch the shot before it hits the ground to prevent a goal. Defense is not played aggressively. Instead, defenders rely on positioning to keep the attacking team at bay, Torok said.
The two Old Bridge teams both performed well in the tournament. The Garden State squad went 4-0 in pool play, while the Tchoukball NJ team went 4-1. It was an all-Old Bridge finals, as Tchoukball NJ avenged its loss in pool play.
Torok, who grew up in Sayreville, discovered the game about four years ago when he transferred to Old Bridge High School. He remembered rummaging around in a storage area and coming across a box with nets and rules. Intrigued, he began to roll it out to his students.
“It sounded like a great game,” Torok said. “So I looked it up on YouTube and I got hooked. It combines so many athletic elements, like catching, throwing, running and jumping.”
Interest grew gradually, and in 2013, Torok took a team to the first U.S. National Championship. It has since grown to two teams and 17 players. Many others join the informal Sunday morning workouts at the high school.
Eventually, Torok got in touch with Steve Abreu, who runs a team in Massachusetts, and the United States Tchoukball Association (USTBA) was born with Abreu as president and Torok as vice president.
As a result of its success, as well as promotion on Facebook and Twitter, Torok has received offers to participate in the Pan American Games and the Rimini Beach Tournament in Italy. As tempting as they were, he opted to turn them down.
“We’re still learning the game here, and we’re not ready for that level of competition,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to do something like that in the next five years or so. Our main goal now is to continue growing and popularizing the game.”
The Old Bridge team members are:
Garden State
Rich Torok, Dan Fiorentino, Brandon Cintron, Gary Anderson, Michael and Charles McFeeley, Tyler Vavrence and Rob Henn
Tchoukball NJ
Andre Triol, Brendan Berasain, Matt Scalgione, Tom Barracuto, Dakota Toth, Matt DiMartini, Jesse Leadbetter, Matt McFeeley and Rey Gasavage.
With the exception of Fiorentino, Anderson and Leadbatter, all the players are either current or former Old Bridge High School students.