Chinese 9 man volleyball

Volleyball as you've never seen it: D.C. hosts Chinese 9-man volleyball tournament.

The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which had halted most Chinese immigration to America, inadvertently fostered 9-man’s growth in the United States. Volleyball became an easily accessible diversion for the predominantly male laundry and restaurant workers who had few other avenues for socializing: All it required was a street or alley, a strung-up rope and a ball (or a bundle of tied-together rags). And because Chinese communities remained small and isolated, holding “friendship” games on Labor Day — a holiday with guaranteed time off and special train fares — became a way for the Chinese in cities such as Boston, New York, Providence and Newark to meet and check in with each other.
Thus the origins of a traveling competition featuring a fierce, fast game played outdoors on summer-baked streets studded with rubble and broken glass, all of which add hardship and danger, and contribute to the tough-guy aesthetic of 9-man.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/volleyball-as-youve-never-seen-it-dc-hosts-chinese-9-man/2013/08/22/5ad5680a-efed-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html