Ball Games Played Around the Globe- Part III

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.

 

Tetherball

Tetherball is a North American game for two opposing players. The equipment consists of a stationary metal pole, from which is hung volleyball from a rope, or tether. The two players stand on opposite sides of the pole. Each player tries to hit the ball one way; one clockwise, and one counter (anti-) clockwise. The game ends when one player manages to win the ball all the way around the pole so that it is stopped by the rope. It must not bounce.

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. The ball is usually played with the hands or arms, but players can legally strike or push (short contact) the ball with any part of the body.

Water polo

Water polo, or Water ball, is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores the most goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water (using a sort of kicking motion known as "eggbeater kick"), and players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing the ball into a net defended by a goalie. Water polo, therefore, has strong similarities to the land-based game of team handball.

 

Beach soccer

Beach soccer, also known as beach football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. The game emphasizes skill, agility and shooting at goal. The irregularity of the soft-sand playing surface leads to a totally different style of play than is used in association football, with a greater degree of improvisation. The compact pitch, much smaller than a normal association football pitch, allows players to score from anywhere on the sand, leading to an average of sixty attempts at goal in a single game. With an average of scoring rate of one goal every three or four minutes, around eleven goals are scored in total per game.

 

Cricket 

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on a field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of an innings.

 

Golf 

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players (or golfers) use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes. Golf is defined, in the rules of golf, as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules." It is one of the few ball games that do not require a standardized playing area.

 Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a good return. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including people in wheelchairs.

 

Water basketball 

Water basketball is a water sport which mixes the rules of basketball and water polo, played in a swimming pool. Teams of five players each must shoot at the goal with a ball within a certain time after gaining possession.

 

Gilli-Danda 

Gilli-Danda is an amateur sport played in the rural areas and small towns all over India and Pakistan especially in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, as well as Cambodia and Italy. "Gilli Danda" origins in India date back to the "Maurya Dynasty" or even before that. This game is an extremely famous local game played all over the sub continent and even in South Asia. Gilli Danda is also believed to be the origin of many such European and American games like Cricket, Baseball & Softball. This is due to the similarities of this game to the current version of Cricket or Baseball.

Baseball 

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a 90-foot diamond. Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turns at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

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).

Significance of Cultural Exchange in 21st Century

“To have eaten some strange food and to have taken pictures of people wearing funny cloths is not enough to say that you know a certain culture. One exposure to culture does not mean you have seen it all. It just means that you met people who have different personalities and who are living in a culture with its own habits, symbols, rituals and values”. Cultural exchange with other countries, groups or organizations is very important and it means deepening the understanding of certain culture and promoting international friendship and good will. 

Most countries, organizations and groups have recognized the importance of cultural exchange and have been making active efforts through their structure to expand such exchanges. Education is one such podium through which cultural exchange is possible in larger scale. And boarding schools are considered to be the appropriate place for such endeavor. India is often known as the best destination of cultural exchange since we have flourished and enriched cultural foundation.  

The ongoing trend in India shows us a very positive sign which is the increased number of international boarding schools in India who ensure the exchange of culture and tradition through the collaboration with foreign countries. Students from various parts of the world come under single roof and stay together where they learn the basic human attribute like compassionate feeling for others and the unity in diversity. Cultural exchanges help in various ways but for that purpose there should be proper understanding about others culture.

Cultural exchange is nothing but the better understanding of other’s culture and enhancement of prevailing culture with the positive and healthier aspects of other’s culture. In schools this process is made easy through the celebration of each tradition on various occasions and en number camps and other programs. For example we can take Oakridge international School in Vizag which stand ahead with their cultural exchange programs inculcating foreign students and provide opportunity to children to understand the diversity and richness in all the culture and it pave the way to improve the cultural foundation of everyone. 

Cultural exchange programs serve as an important means of introducing people around the world to ideas they might not normally be exposed to. Many barriers have begun to fall between people around the world, with near instantaneous communication allowing people on opposite side of the world to meaningfully interact. Programs that can encourage people to appreciate and understand distinct culture will play a key role in creating a brighter and enriched world.    

  

Ball Games Played Around the Globe

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.