Just what is this "new" sport? I'd first
read about it while Googling and Yahoo'ing paddle sports and handball. I
discovered that our sports are related to an ancient sport named Pelota Vasca.
Per my meager research, I discovered courts come in a variety of "official"
sizes or "modalities" and these determine the game that can be
officially sanctioned and played there ("specialties"). We know of frontons where Punta Cesta or Jai-Alai, the most widely known of all such games
is played- Miami & Dania come to mind- but did you know there's other games played on
the other similar courts?
There's play with a hard leather ball using the hand or paddles of differing
designs, play with a rubber ball using the hand or paddles and finally-
the games I saw played: Using a hand and tennis ball or a racquet and tennis
ball. Granted: us paddleball players can get that big ol' tennis
ball hummin' right along- but that ain't nothing compared to the speed one can
impart upon it with the leverage of a tennis racquet! I had no real way to judge
what I was seeing as I had only the paddleball and racquetball context to compare it to: but
watching some of these guys using wrist-snap with a tennis racquet told me they
played well and often. The game allows taking the ball off the back wall- some
guys I saw excelled at this. Volleys were at times 20 or 30 hits and
players score serving or receiving. To my eyes, the court was crowded what with all those
long racquets on the court- but also, there's much more space for the players to
move around on and there were very few incidents of contact. I could see,
though, that one hit with a ball off a big forehand would be one too many! And
"handbol?" Those guys were whipping a tennis ball around like if it
was a "big blue" with lobs and gets off the back wall abounding.
Closed hand hits were very common but I took it to be legal. I'm betting
these guys could give "big blue" players some comp if they
really wanted to try the sport. Rules? I did some
research and found the 58 page official F.I.P.V. (Federación
Internacional Paleta Vasca) rules book which covers every modality (
there are 4) and
associated official specialty of the sport (of which there are 14). Courts are 3 walled with a center
area play begins from. If you look at the pictures of the court's front
wall (aka the "frontis")
you'll see the "Chismosa," a strip of sheet-metal akin to our
3 foot line except that it's in play throughout the serve and volleys:
hit with a ball, the "chapa," "chismosa" makes a
distinct sound as a telltale the point's lost. Also, a ball hitting
below chismosa is no good. Serving players get 2 faults, like in
paddleball. Serves must land between the short ("C") and the
long ("L") long lines and are allowed to hit the left side
wall ("pared izquierda"). Serves can be hit in the air and
balls off the back wall (aka the "rebote") are allowed as are
shots into the corner, similar to racquetball. "Pinch" shots
were common. Click on a thumbnail to see the full size picture,
click the "Back" button on you browser or hit the backspace
key to return to this page.
Also featured below are 2 video clips so you can see
the game being played. It's akin to racquetball, paddleball and tennis and
looks to be a blast to play! To view the video clips you'll need Apple
QuickTime installed.
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