Okay, here’s my blog post about building a portable wooden volleyball court floor:

Alright, so I’ve been wanting to set up a decent volleyball area in my backyard for ages. I didn’t want to just play on the grass, because, you know, uneven bounces and twisted ankles. And pouring concrete was way too permanent (and expensive!). Then I got this crazy idea: a portable wooden court! I saw some stuff online, and most were about permanent install, I’m gonna DIY my way through this.

The Big Plan

My thought was to use plywood sheets as the base and then figure out a way to make them interlock and be somewhat… portable. I also wanted some bounce, like a real court, so rubber volleyballs seemed like a good thing to test under the plywood.

Getting Started (and Messy)

First, I grabbed a bunch of 4×8 foot plywood sheets. I went with the thicker stuff, because I didn’t want it to feel flimsy. I also picked up a few dozen cheap rubber volleyballs. The idea was to deflate them slightly and use them as a kind of “springy” base.

I laid out the plywood in my backyard, trying to figure out the best arrangement for a decent-sized court. It took some shuffling, and let me tell you, those sheets are heavy! I realized pretty quickly that just laying them side-by-side wasn’t going to work. They’d shift around like crazy.

The Interlocking Struggle

This is where things got tricky. I needed a way to connect the plywood sheets. I considered using metal brackets, but that seemed like a lot of work and potentially sharp edges. Then I thought about using some kind of tongue-and-groove system, but I’m no carpenter, and my jigsaw skills are… questionable.

I ended up using some heavy-duty wood planks as “connectors.” I screwed these planks to the underside of the plywood, overlapping the seams between the sheets. It wasn’t pretty, but it seemed to hold them together okay. It is kind of like “stitching” them from beneath.

The “Bounce” Test

Now for the rubber volleyballs. I deflated them a bit – not completely flat, but enough so they had some give. I arranged them under the plywood, spacing them out evenly. It looked pretty ridiculous, I’ll admit. A sea of slightly squished volleyballs.

I carefully stepped onto the plywood… and it felt… surprisingly good! It wasn’t perfect, but it definitely had some bounce. The volleyballs were acting like little shock absorbers.

Making it (Slightly) Portable

Okay, “portable” is a strong word. This thing is still heavy as heck. But, I can unscrew the connector planks and move the individual plywood sheets if I need to. It’s definitely a two-person job, though. And storing it all would require a decent amount of space.

Final Thoughts (and Lessons Learned)

So, did it work? Sort of! It’s definitely playable. It’s not a professional-grade court, but it’s way better than playing on the grass. I learned a few things along the way:

• Plywood is heavy. Really heavy.
• My woodworking skills are still pretty basic.
• This project took way longer than I expected.
• There is no way my wife will let me leave this on the backyard.

It is just a very rough prototype, I probably would have used some interlocking system from local store, just like those plastic floor tile. But it’s a start! It’s a fun experiment, and hey, now I have a (somewhat) portable volleyball court. I’ll probably tweak the design in the future, maybe try a different interlocking system, and perhaps even make it a bit easier to move around. But for now, game on!