Ball Games Played Around the Globe- Part I

Various kinds of ball games are played by people all over the world. Interestingly most of the ball games engage team play and it provides the feeling of togetherness. Other than these ball games involve enormous physical activity and exercise which in turn help us to keep fit and healthy. Let’s have a look at some of the well known ball games from all over the world. 

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. Since 1992, badminton has been an Olympic sport. 

Croquet 

Croquet is a sport that involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.

Handball

Handball (also known as team handball, Olympic handball, European handball or Borden ball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outfield players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team. A standard match consists of two periods of 30 minutes, and the team with the most goals scored wins. Modern handball is usually played indoors, but outdoor variants exist in the forms of field handball and Czech handball (which were more common in the past) and beach handball (also called sand ball).

Hurling

Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for over 3,000 years, and is thought to be the world's fastest field team game in terms of game play.  One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, number of players, and much terminology.

Jai alai

Jai alai is a sport involving a ball bounced off a walled space. It is a variety of Basque Pelota. The term, coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also often loosely applied to the fronton (the open-walled playing area) where the sport is played. The Basque Government promotes jai alai as "the fastest sport in the world because of the balls" and once held the world record for ball speed with a 125g–140g ball covered with goatskin that traveled at 302 km/h (188 mph). 

 Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a Crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh designed to catch and hold the lacrosse ball and can also be strung with hard mesh. Offensively, the objective of the game is to score by shooting the ball into an opponent's goal, using the lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball to do so. Defensively, the objective is to keep the opposing team from scoring and to dispossess them of the ball through the use of stick checking and body contact or positioning.