*Bocce Ball, Rugby, Table Tennis, Croquet*
Bocce Ball
Websites- Bocce.com , ibocce.com
Checkout this Bocce Guide that Emilia Stevens Recommended
https://www.winecellarinnovations.com/custom-wine-cellars/italian-culture
Bocce Rules
*Each Bocce set has 8 balls(2 green, 2 red, 2 blue, 2 yellow)
*If there are 2 players, they each use 4 balls. If there are 3 or 4 players, they each use 2 balls.
*The first thrower tosses the pallino or jack first (the white ball).
*That person then tosses their first ball, trying to get close to the pallino.
*A second person then tosses their ball.
– If their ball is closer, then the first person throws their second ball.
– If their first ball is farther away than thrower #1, then thrower #2 tosses their second ball.
– If the second ball is now closest, player #1 must toss their second ball. If not, another thrower takes their turn.
– Whoever has the closest ball, will always throw last.
*A tossed ball may hit another ball(s) and/or the pallino.
*All tosses must be underhand (pallino and balls).
*Balls may be rolled, tossed, or bounced toward the pallino.
*The closest ball receives 1 point.
*If the same person has the 2 closest balls, they receive 2 points.
*Games are played until the end of the period. Player with the highest score is the winner.
History of Bocce
Throwing balls toward a target is the oldest game known to mankind. As early as 5000 B.C. the Egyptians played a form of bocce with polished rocks. Graphic representations of figures tossing a ball or polished stone have been recorded as early as 5200 B.C. While bocce today looks quite different from its early predecessors, the unbroken thread of bocce’s lineage is the consistently common objective of trying to come as close to a fixed target as possible. From this early objective, the basic rules of bocce were born. From Egypt the game made its way to Greece around 800 B.C. The Romans learned the game from the Greeks, then introduced it throughout the empire. The Roman influence in bocce is preserved in the game’s name; bocce derives from the Vulgate Latin bottia, meaning boss.
The early Romans were among the first to play a game resembling what we know as bocce today. In early times they used coconuts brought back from Africa and later used hard olive wood to carve out bocce balls. Beginning with Emperor Augustus, bocce became the sport of statesman and rulers. From the early Greek physician Ipocrates to the great Italian Renaissance man Galileo, the early participants of bocce have noted that the game’s athleticism and spirit of competition rejuvenates the body.
As the game enjoyed rapid growth throughout Europe, being the sport of nobility and peasants alike, it began to threaten with the health of nations. The popularity of the game was said to interfere with the security of the state because it took too much time away from archery practice and other military exercises. Consequently, Kings Carlos IV and V prohibited the playing of bocce, and doctors from the University of Montpellier, France, tried to discredit the claim that playing bocce had great therapeutic effect in curing rheumatism.
In 1576, the Republic of Venice publicly condemned the sport, punishing those who played with fines and imprisonment. And perhaps most grave was the condemnation by the Catholic Church which deterred the laity and officially prohibited clergyman from playing the game by proclaiming bocce a means of gambling.
Contrary to the rest of Europe, the great game of balls thrived in Great Britain. Such nobility as Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake were avid fans. According to legend, Sir Frances Drake refused to set out to defend England against the Spanish Armada until he finished a game. He proclaimed, “First we finish the game, then we’ll deal with the Armada!”
The sport first came to America in the English version called bowis from the French boule meaning ball. In accord with how the game was played in Britain, American players threw the ball not on stone dust (as is done today in bocce) but on close cropped grass which some say is the origin of the modern lawn. It has been noted that one early American playing field was Bowling Green at the southern tip of Manhattan and that George Washington built a court at Mount Vernon in the 1780s.
In modern times, the first bocce clubs were organized in Italy. Notably the first Italian League was formed in 1947 by fifteen teams in and around the town of Rivoli (Torino). 1947 also marks the beginning of the yearly Bocce World Championships.
Thanks to many Italian immigrants at the turn of the century, bocce has come to flourish in the United States. During its beginnings in the U.S. there were as many versions of the game as there were towns the immigrants had left. Bringing some order to the game is the Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxeas, the preeminent bocce organization headquartered in Rome, Italy.
It should be added that the oral traditions of bocce are just as much an important part of the game. Throw out a pallino and become part of the long heritage of the game from great thinkers such as Galileo and da Vinci, to rulers Augustus and Queen Elizabeth, to the noble Sir Francis Drake and even America’s own George Washington. Enjoy the world’s oldest sport, a sport known to revive the body and mind, and next to soccer, the most popular game in the world.
History courtesy of the COLLEGIUM COSMICUM AD BUXEAS, the preeminent international organization for the sport of bocce: www.bocce.org
Rugby
Website- USA Rugby
Rugby is a popular game played by men and women of every race and creed, from under age five to well over fifty, in over 100 countries of the world. In a few of those countries it is the national sport.
The basic game involves 15 players though seven-a-side tournaments are also popular.
The object of the game is to score as many points as possible by carrying, passing, kicking and grounding an oval ball in the scoring zone at the far end of the field — called the in-goal area. Grounding the ball, which must be done with downward pressure, results in a try (worth 5 points). After a try a conversion may be attempted by place kick or drop kick. If the ball passes over the bar and between the goal posts the conversion is successful and results in a further 2 points. Points may also be scored from a drop kick in general play (worth 3 points) and a penalty kick (worth 3 points).
The ball may not be passed forward (though it may be kicked forward) and players may not receive the ball in an offside position, nor may they wait in such a position. Players may not be tackled without the ball. Play only stops when a try is scored, or the ball goes out of play, or an infringement occurs. When the ball goes out it is thrown back in at a line-out where the opposing “forwards” line up and jump for the ball. Infringements result in a penalty, or free kick, or scrum. In a scrum the opposing forwards bind together in a unit and push against the other forwards, trying to win the ball with their feet. Substitutions are only allowed in case of injury and there is no separate offensive and defensive unit.
Caldwell- In my P.E. class we play a modified version of Rugby using flags instead of tackling.
Table Tennis(Ping Pong)
Website- USA Table Tennis
Terms:
*Rally – the period when the ball is in play.
*Server – the player who strikes the ball first in a rally.
*Receiver – the player who strikes the ball second.Serve – the first ball strike of a rally.
*Let – a serve that hits the net. No point is scored and the serve is re-done.
Serving:
*When the ball is hit on the serve, it bounces first in the server’s side of the table, and then bounces on the opponent’s side of the table.
*In doubles, the ball must touch on the right-hand side of the server’s court, and then diagonally opposite court.
*A player serves for five points. After five points, it is the opponent’s turn to serve.
*Games are played to 21 points.(we play to 11 because of time and large class numbers)
*You must win by two points or more.At the end of a game, players switch ends of the table
Scoring:
*A player scores one point when:
– the opponent fails to make a good service.
– the opponent fails to make a good return.
– Meaning: one point is scored on every serve.
*Examples of failing to make a good return:
– The ball lands out of bounds (off the table).
– The ball bounces more than one time before being returned.
– The ball is returned by hitting it in the air before it bounces on the table.
– Hitting the ball by anything other than the paddle.
– If you touch the net.
– If you hit the ball two times in succession
Table tennis is a sport that is interesting and diverse enough to have its own set of fun and amazing facts. Here is a partial list.
Did you know…
•…the current superpowers(1998) of international table tennis include Sweden, China, Germany, Belgium, and South Korea.
•…back in the days of unregulated rackets, all sorts of strange materials were at the tables. Among the stranger ones include: 5 inch think sponge, pure wood, and sandpaper.
•…the name ping-pongT is trademarked by Parker Brothers, who wanted a huge sum of money from USATT for the rights to that name. In response, the community gave the sport its own name: table tennis.
•…certain world-class players can put up to 9000rpm of spin on table tennis balls.
•…table tennis balls aren’t really hollow. They are pressurized slightly with a gas.
•…more than 30 table tennis companies exist around the world, making a full line of accessories from paddles to warm-up suits.
•…in Europe and Asia, table tennis is big business and is very popular overall. Top players are endorsed just like players are endorsed in USA by shoe and apparel companies.
•…certain governments(like Sweden and China), actually pay their top players just to practice.
•…in China, most children are evaluated for certain inherent talents early on. If they are found to be particularly proficient at something, like gymnastics or table tennis, they receive rigorous training in that area.
•…the ping-pong diplomacy was preceded by a secret trip by Henry Kissinger to China, and was followed by a first-ever presidential trip to China(by Nixon)
Croquet
Websites- Croquet America , Croquet.com
Rules:
*We played American 9 Wicket Croquet in class.
*Start with ball 1 mallet head length from the starting stake.
*Wickets must be passed through going in the right direction and in the correct order.
*Passing through a wicket = 1 bonus stroke.
*Hitting the turning stake = 1 bonus stroke.
*Hitting another ball (roqueting) = 2 bonus strokes with the following options:
*May take the 2 strokes from where the ball lies.
*May move the ball to 1 mallet head length from where the struck ball lies, and take 1 stroke.
*May place the ball next to the struck ball, step on your ball, and strike to send the other ball in any desired direction, and then take 1 stroke.
*The same ball may not be struck a second time on the same turn and receive bonus strokes.
*Croquet can be played with 2 or 3 person teams. (Cool colors v. Hot colors)
*A team member may play any one of the team’s balls.
History of Croquet:
Games in which a ball had to be knocked around a course of hoops or obstacles with a mallet were popular in seventeenth and eighteenth century France. One of them, “Paille Maille”, was introduced to London, where it was played in open ground near St. James’s Palace – later becoming known as Pall Mall.
Croquet became the sports craze of Victorian England with National Championships held at Wimbledon before the lawns there were transformed into the tennis courts of today.
Despite its genteel history, croquet is by no means simply the sporting diversion at vicarage garden parties which it is often portrayed as being. Clubs exist in every part of Britain and in many countries overseas. Both national teams and individuals compete at a variety of matches and tournaments every year. Nowadays, it is more popular than it has ever been since its introduction last century and it continues to be a fast-growing sport.