Steven & Jenny Creelman: An inventor lives next door

Written by Seth Stutman
Photos by Rob LeBlanc

Sponsored by East Village Place

Published in Longmeadow Neighbors (September 2022)

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the story of Palmball begins decades ago, when Longmeadow resident Steven Creelman was growing restless on the beaches of Cape Cod.

“We forgot our Kadima Paddles,” said Creelman. “Growing restless with nothing to do, I found some beach rocks that were big and flat, and we used those rocks as paddles. We found a tennis ball, and believe it or not, we got really good, and were having a blast hitting this tennis ball back and forth with these flat RockPaddles. I took a bunch of these rocks home, created courts, and a scoring system with my friends, and voila… “Prehistoric Paddle” (PHP) was born!”

From there, PHP evolved, was taught as a P.E class, and was played weekly, culminating in an annual PHP Invitational Tournament. During the subsequent decades, the Creelmans evolved too.

Steven Creelman was raised in Longmeadow, and returned to town after stops in Florida, Chicago, and Eastern Massachusetts. While as a young person, he never imagined he’d move back into town, after falling in love and starting a family, he returned to a town where he felt a strong sense of community and support - and square footage for his growing family.

Creelman met his wife, Jenny, in Boston, and recalls a story from an early part of their relationship. “We both went down to the dock [at a wedding in Boston] and stole a quiet moment away,” he said. “There was a moon path glistening on the water. Jenny took out two coins from her purse, handed one to me and said, “make a wish and throw it in the water where the moon path is reflecting.” We both closed our eyes and simultaneously threw our coins into the black night, knowing deep down inside we both had the same wish. Years ago we did reveal our wish that night. It was the same wish, to marry each other.”

Growing up, Steven was involved with theater and was also in Lyrics at Longmeadow High School, and now, his children, Avery and Addie, have similar interests and pursue both sports and the arts while not playing palmball. Additionally, the family are members at the First Church of Christ, and love making music together, playing in the backyard, or swimming at the field house.

How do they feel about Longmeadow? “We couldn’t be happier with the neighbors in our community,” he said. “Each neighborhood feels like a little community. We block off the street for an annual Block Party, someone hosts “Movie Nights” in their front yard, with a real Pop-Corn machine, they also host an “Easter Egg Hunt” for all the kids every Easter.”

You might see the Creelman crew out on a walk, and joining them will be a 10-year-old Havanese, Buster, who joined the family after his original owner gave him up. Additionally, they have two cats - each of their daughters fell in love with a kitten from their aunt’s sister’s litter and one kitten just wasn’t an option after that.

“Every morning, I take Buster on a walk in the neighborhood,” said Creelman, “and [one of our cats] follows along, always within 1 or 2 houses from us on our walk. I love that our cat joins us on our walk every morning.”

PALMBALL BLASTS OFF!

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a turning point for the Creelman family. Steve lost his sales job, and the girls were at home from school, and Steve thought that Prehistoric Paddle would be a great way to bring P.E. into the home while school was shut down. Just as PHP was back, Avery was quickly injured by a rock paddle, and the sport was shelved, but Steve’s interest remained piqued.

“Weeks later, I was purging my basement and found an old jigsaw, and I had the brainstorm of cutting round corners and creating PreHistoric Paddles out of wood,” he said. “The wood paddles turned out great! I asked my daughters to hit around with me and they LOVED it! Replacing rocks with wood paddles made it decidedly safer and much easier.”

That summer, the game began to take off, at first, just around the neighborhood, and Creelman realized the potential to take a hobby and turn it into a profession. The name was changed to Palmball, and the rest all happened so fast.

“Three weeks later, an ESPN crew was filming our first sponsored Palmball Tournament with world class athletes showcasing incredible skills,” he said.

“Today, Palmball is played in camps, after school programs, and PE classes. Goalies in all sports, from youth to university levels are using Palmball as a training tool for hand-eye coordination. At the end of the day, Palmball continues to be a FUN game to play with family and friends in your backyard, or at the beach. It’s the same idea as Hacky Sack, only easier.”

Back in Longmeadow, the Creelman’s know they made the right choice moving back to town, and have found a neighborhood to grow old with, and a community supportive of Steven’s emerging, new sport.

“I am so grateful to live in a close knit community, where people in this town have my back, and want to help Palmball succeed,’’ said Creelman. “I have a lunatic posse of passionate players, friends and family who love to play and continually help me fine tune the sport.”