When Steve Shondell went to his girl's volleyball team at Burris Laboratory School and suggested they paint a car, his players did not know what to think.
One thought he was speaking metaphorically. One thought he meant the windows. But he was talking about painting the body of a car to promote volleyball at Ball State University and Burris.
"At first I thought it was a joke," eighth-grader Aringana Anderson said. "Like, 'We're going to paint this car, and we're going to do this,' and I was just sitting here like, 'Yeah, paint a car.' And then all of a sudden they bring the car here, and we get out the stencils and the big plan. And I guess I was somewhat astonished because I thought it was a joke and then it turns out to be this big project."
Throughout the course of about a week and a half, the girls painted a white Chevy Lumina to create the "Volleycar'd."
Created to promote the Ball State men's volleyball team, women's volleyball team and the Burris girl's volleyball home matches, the car will be driven around Muncie on game days to help increase attendance and increase support among fans.
Among the art work, the car has the Ball State logo on the hood. The front driver side says "BSU" followed by a volleyball and "Capitol of the Midwest," [sic] to create the phrase "Ball State University: Volleyball Capitol of the Midwest." The back has the Burris logo and says "Hootie, hoot, hootie, hoot," for the Owls.
"I thought it was amazing how we at first had stencils and the stencils didn't work out too well - well, some of them did but some of them were torn apart and some didn't stick on the car," Anderson said. "And I thought it was amazing how we free-handed most of it and it still looks as great as it does - like it's amazing how that's paint and not stickers."
The Burris girls received help from art teacher Lili Stocker, who initially thought her only contribution would be providing brushes, she said. As she was pulled into the project, she had the same skepticism as the girls and did not see the big picture, she said.
"At first it seemed like this was impossible and why are we doing this?" the first-year high school teacher said. "Once we all worked together and saw how everybody was doing such a great job, it turned out really well."
After having to start again a few times because of mistakes or getting new cups because the paint ate through them, the project finally came together.
"It turned out a lot better than I expected," Burris freshman Eva Cross said.
The car will be unveiled before Friday's 7:30 p.m. Ball State men's volleyball match against Penn State University, the No. 7 team in the nation and the defending national champion.
Shondell - who is also the announcer at men's volleyball matches - said he considered waiting until the fall to unveil the car, but this was too good of a moment to pass up.
"Why wait when you've got such a great weekend?" he said. "The defending national champion coming in, what a great time to unveil the car."
While the car took about a week and a half to prepare, it is decades in the making. Shondell said the inspiration for the car came from his playing days in the 1970s when 6,000-7,000 fans would watch Ball State. Back then, fans drove around campus with a bullhorn to promote the team.
Now, a new car will promote the team and Shondell said he expects it to get 32,000 views a day from its home at the Super 8 Motel parking lot on non-game days.
Super 8, Greek's Pizza and H.H. Gregg Appliances will sponsor the car to make it cost effective to promote Burris and Ball State men's and women's volleyball.
"So basically, what a great way to promote your sport," Shondell said.
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