A young woman positioned behind the food counter unties her apron strings and temporarily escapes her duties as an employee. She leaps the counter and makes her way to the court for the next game. Her shift has not ended, and no one has come to relieve her for a break. Even though she left her post unattended, and random people have begun to roam around behind the food counter and manager’s office, she will not be repremanded. The atmosphere here is not professional like a business but rather the casual atmosphere that swirls around family barbecues.

Every Monday night dedicated people flock to the Whirly Ball of Washington Incorporated in Edmonds for a family bound not by blood, but by the love of each other’s company and a sport most of the world has never heard of.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights are league night at the Whirly Ball Center, and on these nights, the building truly does become a home for some of the best, most passionate Whirly Ball players in the world.

The two glass-encased courts that resemble the strange love child of a basketball court and bumper car ring are the recreation room. A corridor filled with tables and chairs divides the two courts; this is the dining room. The kitchen consists of a hamburger grill, a

French-fryer vat, and a refrigerator packed with varieties of beer and soda pop.

James Gill’s eyes dart confidently around his Monday night home. He is one of the more prominent members of this family. In fact, according to many, he is the best Whirly Ball player in the world. As the stocky man in his late twenties sits at a table and gazes through the glass at a league game in progress, his eyes see things no one else notices.

“See this guy?” Gill says pointing at a bumper-car-like vehicle gliding down the court. “He’s trying to set a screen for the guy with the ball. See, there are screens and stuff like that—just like in basketball.”

Like basketball, Whirly Ball features two teams of five who battle to get the ball into a goal mounted on a backboard. But this is where the similarities to basketball end and Whirly Ball takes on an identity entirely its own.

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