For four-time Olympian Lloy Ball, volleyball is a family affair. The 2008 gold medalist attributed his volleyball beginnings to his dad, Arnie Ball, a former volleyball player and coach. Arnie was introduced to volleyball during his sophomore year at Ball State University. He played baseball his freshman year, but, “The baseball was too little. I couldn’t hit it.”
When Don Shondell, 1996 International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductee and the second-winningest coach in NCAA men’s volleyball history, asked young Arnie to try volleyball, he agreed, completely unaware that the sport would shape the rest of his career. “I was in coach Shondell’s physical education class, and he asked me if I would be interested in playing,” Arnie said. “Of course, I did. I was looking for something to do to keep me out of the bars at Ball State.” After graduating from college, Arnie became a teacher and basketball coach at Maven High School. Eight years later, he took a position at Paul Harding High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he coached baseball and started a boys’ volleyball program.
“Girls sports were just starting, so I coached boys’ and girls’ volleyball there eight years after I got out of college,” he said. “I always wanted to coach boys’ volleyball because of being a player at Ball State.” Then, in 1980, Arnie took a teaching position at Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) where he started a successful men’s club volleyball team. It became a varsity powerhouse a few years later, and Arnie coached at IPFW until he reluctantly retired in 2015.
“[Retiring] was awful,” he said. “I spent 48 years coaching and teaching at the high school and college level, and I love that. I hated to give it up, but I was 70 years old and had cancer, and I needed to give it up. The young people needed a younger person and not an old fart like me.” Arnie’s successful coaching career allowed Lloy to attend the “thousands” of camps Arnie coached while he was growing up. “Volleyball has been in our house since [before] I can remember,” Lloy said. “I was that bleacher-rack kid that went with my dad on every high school trip in every gym in Indiana — always had a ball in my hands. I remember when I was four years old, dad would set up cushions in the living room, and we’d use a balloon — cushions would be the net, balloon would be the ball.”
Lloy’s balloon days quickly transformed into Team USA days. “I think I was 12-u when [Dad] put the first team together — me and a bunch of guys who played football,” Lloy said. “We travelled to Illinois where AAU used to be. We only played one tournament. My selling point to the other guys was there would be lots of girls there, and that seemed to work. That was the first kind of club team I kind of played on … Then, Team USA saw me, and I started down their developmental path.” At just 15 years old, Lloy became the youngest player to compete in the 1987 Olympic Festival. He competed in the following year with the U.S. National Team, replacing an injured player, making him the youngest player to compete for the team.
Despite being offered the opportunity to play basketball for Bob Knight at Indiana University, Lloy chose volleyball.“I wanted to be an athlete and hopefully get paid for it at some point in time for as long as I could,” he said. “I felt that volleyball would allow that to happen, as well as playing for my father, as well as hopefully one day representing my country in the Olympics. Those three things just outweighed the love I had for Hoosier basketball.” Arnie said he was glad Lloy chose volleyball because it was “job security” for Arnie.
“If he would’ve chosen to play basketball for coach Knight, I would have quit coaching,” Arnie said. “Because while I was coaching at the university, I missed a lot of his high school basketball games. I didn’t want to miss them again if he played for coach Knight, but because he didn’t, I didn’t have to miss any games. “He was a good player. He helped elevate our program to national status and our recruitership because you could easier recruit players to our level when you have a player such as he.”
Lloy said he does not regret choosing volleyball, and he now has the history to back up his decision. By the time he attended the 2008 Olympics, Lloy was the first Team USA men’s volleyball player to attend four Olympic games — he previously played in 1996, 2000 and 2004. Lloy was able to use his experience from his previous three trips to the Olympics to help solidify the team’s success and offer his knowledge of to play well together as a team.
“I think in 2000, battling a knee surgery, even though our team was very talented, we did not have great chemistry as a team, and it showed in certain situations,” he said. “I learned that no matter how many great athletes you have on a team, you have to play for each other. You have to have good chemistry when you’re in the event.
“In ’08 it just came together. We were an experienced, well-oiled machine that could pass and defend at a veteran status.” Even though he chose volleyball, Lloy still plays basketball in a Sunday night league in Angola, Ind., where he lives with his wife and two kids. He also built the Ball Sports Academy there, where he coaches Team Pineapple, a club volleyball team. Lloy also coaches his son, Dyer, a senior at Angola High School. Dyer was born into the volleyball life.
“Thirty minutes after I was born, we got on a plane and went over to Italy where my dad played, so I was there for the first four years of my life,” Dyer said. “After that, we went to Russia, where I watched my dad every single night. He was on one of the best teams there, so they were always winning championships, which was super cool. Then, in 2008, I got to watch him win the gold medal in Beijing, which was the highlight of my life so far.” Dyer played volleyball in middle school, but when he got to high school, he wanted to play basketball instead because, “I just wasn’t having fun with any other sports.”
When his senior year rolled around, he was pulled back to volleyball. “My dad always wanted me to play,” Dyer said. “I thought it would make him proud, and [I would] see what I can do with it.” Dyer recently decided to follow in his grandfather Arnie’s footsteps when he committed to Ball State, and will become a member of the BSU Men’s Volleyball Team in Fall 2020.
“It’s a place that has a lot of history with my family,” Dyer said. “My grandpa played there, and when my dad was in college, IPFW and Ball State were like the rivalry schools. And I like to make my dad a little mad sometimes, so I think it would be funny going to a school he always hated growing up.” Dyer plans to get a degree in business so he can take over the Ball Sports Academy when he is older.
Until then, the three Ball men will play and coach men’s volleyball together.
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