So today I’m gonna share how I cobbled together that shock absorbing volleyball setup everyone’s been asking about. Total accident that I even tried this – buddy brought his kid over last week and their junior volleyball busted right through my cheap plywood backboard. Sawdust everywhere. Again.

What got wrecked

That old board was just junk scrap wood nailed to the garage. Thin stuff, maybe 1/4 inch? Sounded like a shotgun every time the ball hit it. And the bounce? Straight up DEAD. No wonder junior kept chasing that stupid ball halfway down the street.

Grabbing crap from the shed

• Real plywood this time – dug out two 3/4 inch chunks left from last summer’s busted chicken coop project (still splattered with chicken poop, whatever)
• Weird rubber mats – leftover from that failed home gym phase, remember the treadmill gathering dust? Tore up the ugliest one
• Car tire inner tubes – bicycle ones actually, found three patched up ones in the “maybe useful someday” bin
• Half-empty tube of industrial glue – expired 2020, probably illegal in three states but it’s all I got
• Grandpa’s rusty hand drill – with one bent bit left

Glue-fest nightmare

First tried sandwiching everything – plywood, then nasty rubber mat, then the inner tubes. Slapped that stinky glue everywhere like decorating a birthday cake gone wrong. Pro tip: wear gloves unless you wanna pick glue boogers off your fingers for a week. Stacked all layers between concrete blocks and left it overnight.

Next morning? Disaster. Only the edges stuck together in the middle drooped like sad pizza. Cussed louder than when I step on Legos barefoot. Ended up drilling holes through the whole soggy mess (bent drill bit screaming like angry wasps) and tying everything together with nylon rope from an old laundry line. Looks like Frankenstein’s backboard.

Does it even work?

Hung this monster up with leftover fence brackets. Threw rocks first – scared it would collapse. Then spiked that volleyball like a madman:

• Sound difference is crazy – went from “GUNSHOT” to “wet sock thump”
• Ball actually comes back now – not dead bounces rolling into gutter drains anymore
• Weird wobble – that ghetto rope suspension makes the whole board wiggle like jello. Kid next door couldn’t stop laughing

Still missing pieces

My backboard wobbles worse than my diet resolutions and the inner tubes are slowly sagging out. Saw some YouTube guy use actual springs and neoprene sheets – probably wouldn’t require scrubbing chicken poop first. But this trash heap cost me exactly $0 and gives neighborhood kids comedy hour, so guess I’m calling it a win.

If you try this? Wear gloves. Seriously. Your fingers will thank me.