Lisa Biagiotti | multimedia journalist

Queens Tribune: All it takes is a dollar and a wall

Outdoor handball courts empty out during colder months when hands begin to sting from slapping the ball. But serious handball players take the sport indoors and train at the Elks Lodge on Queens Boulevard, as part of a new Elks Fraternity membership initiative.

Handball hopefuls get a game in at CC Moore Homestead Park.

It’s easy to find a ball and a wall in Elmhurst.

On any mild day at CC Moore Homestead Park on Broadway and 45th Avenue, teenagers play handball, smoke cigarettes and hang out. Because of limited park space, handball is a popular recreational sport in the neighborhood. Outdoor handball courts empty out during colder months when hands begin to sting from slapping the ball.

But serious handball players take the sport indoors and train at the Elks Lodge on Queens Boulevard, as part of a new Elks’ membership initiative. These players credit handball with keeping them out of trouble, and several players have become nationally ranked by the United States Handball Association (USHA), in Tuscon, Ariz., where officials recognize Elmhurst players by their first names.

“I have a lot of friends who messed up their lives with drugs,” said Victor LoPierre, 22, a nationally ranked player and senior at Queens College. “Handball kept me away from that because I was busy playing. [It’s about] using handball as a tool to get more people focused on their lives.”

This motivated breed of Elmhurst handball players has another thing in common – they were all coached by Michael Watson.

Watson, 42, a former professional handball player, has voluntarily coached players on public courts for the past 15 years. He said he has traveled with his players to tournaments in Toledo, Ohio and as far away as Venice Beach, Calif.

“When I hit about 28, 29 [years old], I would go around the park, and nobody would play with the kids,” said Watson, a computer consultant who lives in Maspeth. “In the previous generation there was a disconnect, [experienced players] stopped playing with younger guys.”

But Watson said someone needed to teach young people the proper techniques of the game. He currently works with about 30 to 35 handball players, and approximately six to 10 closely several days a week.

“I always tried to pick the kids who are going to school, working, and are decent, well-mannered,” said Watson. “Every kid that I’ve touched has been a national champion at the junior level.”

There are three different types of handball games depending on the how many walls are in play – one-wall, three-wall and four-wall. While in New York, handball is predominantly played on concrete, one-wall courts with “big blue” balls, the rest of the country (and collegiate tournaments) tend to play on indoor four-wall courts with smaller ace balls.

LoPierre, of Forest Hills, was coached by Watson and has traveled all over the country and to Europe to play. In November, LoPierre placed third at the Italian handball tournament in Nizza Monferrato.

The sport is gaining international appeal, with Italian and Basque handball federations inviting U.S. players to compete. On the national level, the USHA said collegiate handball is the fastest growing tournament with 35 to 40 different colleges slotting up to 30 players in competition.

Some of Watson’s players have leveraged their handball skills into college financial aid packages.

“Ever since I found out I could get a [college] scholarship or some help, I started to fulfill my dreams, both academically and physically,” said Jonathan Iglesias, 21, a senior at the renowned handball college, Lake Forest College in Illinois.

“Everything I learned through handball I can transition to any part of my life,” said Iglesias, of Elmhurst. “[I see] how you can use handball to network, get into a good school and grow as a person.”

Now, these handball players are joining the Elks Lodge and focusing on giving back to the community. Coach Watson, an Elks officer, said he has recruited about 16 to 20 members – all handball players – to become junior members of the Elk’s Antlers under-21 program. They play handball on the indoor court, but also visit veterans’ hospitals and engage the community.

“It is almost a perfect situation because [the Elks are] in the neighborhood,” said Watson regarding the effort to boost the fraternity’s membership, which once swelled at over 5,000 members. Since then, the Elks have sold their historic, landmark building and rent the adjacent gymnasium facility. Membership has dwindled to 350, with the average age around 65.

“Only the youth can recapture the excitement of what the Elks was all about,” said Innunzio Russo, exalted Elks ruler.

But on another semi-warm day, kids crowd in Broadway Park and play street handball with cigarettes dangling from their mouths, whacking at the big, blue ball – it’s all part of the urban culture here.

“Anybody can play,” said LoPierre, an Elks member. “That’s what’s so great about [handball]. You can buy a ball for a dollar at the store and go play.”