Hooverball is a game that was invented by President Herbert Hoover’s doctor to help him stay in shape while in office. It is played on a field similar to a volleyball court and is scored like tennis.
“It required less skill than tennis, was faster and more vigorous, and therefore gave more exercise in a short time,” Hoover wrote in his Memoirs.
“Except for Sundays, we played medicine ball every morning of the week, including official holidays,” Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur wrote in his Memoirs. “Only absence from Washington kept us away.”
“We paid no attention to the weather except for a very heavy rain. We played in cold and wind, snow and rain, and in the four years we were driven indoors only two or three times, because of an unusually drenching downpour.”
After Hoover’s Presidency was over, the game continued. There are several tournaments around the world and a national championship is hosted each year in Iowa.
A few years ago, the medicine balls that were used in the championship went out of production. Dynamax was asked to provide the official Hooverballs and has done so ever since.