Tournaments play a key role in most sports but may be critical in keeping the Lowcountry's most home-grown sport alive.
Half-rubber, a sport similar to baseball but played without the bases and with only half a ball, is nearly a century old and barely exists beyond the coastal regions of Charleston and Savannah.
These days, the Italian game of bocce or the Ohioan game of cornhole are more likely to be seen on the beach than one of the most traditional games of the Carolina coast.
That game is half-rubber.
And while it's not thriving or hip, it appears unlikely to die, thanks to die-hard half-rubber enthusiasts and several local recreation departments that host tournaments.
The diameter of a halfrubber measures three inches and is essentially half of a baseball.
Halfrubber is a game that is as native to the Lowcountry as the shag, oyster roasts, palmetto bugs, joggling boards and Gullah.
When people "from off" see it being played, most are fascinated to watch three or four players pitching, hitting and catching half of a rubber ball, as it makes weird, exaggerated flights through the air, and using a "bat" that either is, or resembles, a mop stick.
