Friday, October 26, 2012

Ball Games Played Around the Globe- Part II



Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules.


 
Polo

Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played at speed on a large grass field up to 300 yards long by 160 yards wide, and each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is played with a solid plastic ball, which has replaced the wooden ball in much of the sport. 


 
Racquetball

Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court. Unlike most racquet sports, such as tennis and badminton, there is no net to hit the ball over, and unlike squash no tin (out of bounds area at the bottom of front wall) to hit the ball above. Also, the court's walls, floor, and ceiling are legal playing surfaces, with the exception of court-specific designated hinders being out-of-bounds. It is very similar to 40×20 handball, which is played in many countries.


 
Rounders

Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a round wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by running around the four bases on the field. Game play centers on a number of innings, in which teams alternate at batting and fielding. A maximum of nine players are allowed to field at any time. Points (known as 'rounders') are scored by the batting team when one of their players completes a circuit past four bases without being put 'out'.



Softball

Softball is a variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game. Despite the name, the ball used is not soft. It is about 12 in. (30 cm) in circumference (sometimes larger for slow-pitch), which is 3 in. (8 cm) larger than a baseball. The infield in softball is smaller than in baseball; each base is 60 ft (18 m) from the next, as opposed to baseball's 90 ft. (27 m). 



Squash

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players (or in doubles 4 players on court at a time) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball. For its fast pace and requirement of mental agility, it has been described as "jet-propelled chess". The game was formerly called squash racquets, a reference to the "squashable" soft ball used in the game (compared with the fatter ball used in its parent game racquets or rackets; see below).



Stickball

Stickball is a street game related to baseball, usually formed as a pick-up game played in large cities in the Northeastern United States, especially New York City and Philadelphia. The equipment consists of a broom handle and a rubber ball, typically a spaldeen, pensie pinkie, high bouncer or tennis ball. The rules come from baseball and are modified to fit the situation, for bases or buildings for foul lines. The game is a variation of stick and ball games dating back to at least the 1750s.





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