Tag Archives: Game

If you like to move around then squash is the game for you.

• Squash is a racquet-and-ball sport that involves players hitting a ball at a wall in a confined space, and it is a game played as singles or doubles, with two or four players respectively.
• The aim of a player in squash is to cause the opponent to fail to hit the ball into the marked boundaries before two floor bounces; and a game will generally last up to 40 minutes as a player attempts to reach a score of 11 first.
• Squash is typically played in an enclosed rectangular court with four walls and the standard dimensions of 6.4 to 9.75 metres (21 to 32 feet); and the sport is great exercise as it uses the cardiovascular system extensively, along with the legs and arms; though to prevent eye injury, goggles are typically worn.
• The game of squash uses a hollow ball that is made from butyl rubber, and is generally from 39.5 to 40.5 millimetres (1.56 to 1.59 inches) in diameter and weighs 23 to 25 grams (0.81 to 0.88 ounces).
• ‘Squash rackets’ was the original name of the sport of squash, and it was a variation of the game of rackets, which used a hard ball; and the pastime was born in about 1830, in the Harrow School of London, in England, when a perforated hard racket ball was used in a game of rackets and proved to make the game more interesting and energetic due to the more flexible and squashable ball.

A Game of Squash
Image courtesy of Groton School/Flickr

• Squash balls require warming up before a game for them to become bouncy, though depending on their composition, some balls are bouncier than others, making the game play faster or slower accordingly.
• Modern squash racquets are typically a flat egg shape with a pointed end toward the handle, and are generally lighter than tennis racquets at 90 to 175 grams (3 to 6 ounces).
• Due to the small playing space, interference (getting in an opponent’s way) in squash is common and typically results in a replay when appealed, although a referee may make other calls dependent on intent and the play of the game.
• Squash is a rapidly growing sport, and increased by 82% from 2007 to 2011 in the USA; and in 2009, almost 50,000 courts in 188 countries were recognised; while in 2016, Egypt tended to dominate the competitive squash scene.
• As of 2016, squash was yet to be incorporated in the Olympic Games program, even though it has been considered for inclusion for a number of years; however, it has been integrated into both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games since 1998.

Bibliography:
About Squash, 2015, Squash Revolution, http://www.squashrevolution.com/about-squash.html

Nair D, Squash or Tennis, Which One is the Harder Sport?, Racquet Social, http://racquetsocial.com/squash-or-tennis-which-one-is-the-harder-sport/

Squash (Sport), 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_(sport)

Wallbutton T, World Squash Federation One Hundred and Forty Years of Squash, n.d, World Squash Federation, http://www.worldsquash.org/ws/wsf-information/squash-history/140-years-of-squash

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Take a shot on the attack with some field hockey.

• Field hockey is a sport consisting of two teams of eleven players each, who use sticks in the shape of a J, to hit a small, spherical ball into a goal.
• ‘Field hockey’ is also known simply as ‘hockey’, especially in countries where ice hockey, the other main hockey variant, is not as common.
• The flat or ‘face’ side of a hockey stick is used to hit or pass the ball in hockey, although the edge of the stick may also be used in a somewhat restrained manner; and unless you are the goalkeeper, no use of body parts is permitted.
• Field hockey is typically played on a rectangular field with dimensions of 91.4 by 55 metres (100 by 60 yards), and the field is usually made of grass; typically synthetic, especially in professional competitions, where it has been in use since the 1970s.
• Stick-and-ball games similar to hockey were played among many ancient civilisations, including those from Egypt, Persia, China, Greece, Ethiopa and Mesoamerica.

A Game of Field Hockey
Image courtesy of David Caleb/Flickr

• Field hockey is thought to have been played in its modern form around the mid to late 1700s in schools; with the first club formed by 1840 in Blackheath, London, in combination with a football club, which was later restructured in the early 1860s, to eventually become a separate organisation.
• A game of field hockey will generally last four quarters of fifteen minutes each, though some games may be played under the old rules of two 35 minute halves.
• The first Hockey Association for field hockey was established in 1876 in the United Kingdom, though it was disbanded six years later, however, it was recreated soon after in 1886.
• In field hockey, the ball is typically made of heavy duty plastic and is often white, with a diameter of approximately 7.3 cm (2.87 inches), often resembling an over-sized golf ball; and during play, hitting the ball too high can be dangerous, and as such, dangerous swings are usually fouled.
• The first Olympic tournament of field hockey was in the 1908 London Olympics, and it became a permanent event in 1928.

Bibliography:
‘The Blackheath Hockey Club’ Est: 1861, 2016, Pitch Hero, http://www.blackheath.co.uk/a/history-32741.html?page=1

Field Hockey, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_hockey

History, 2015, Olympics, https://www.olympic.org/hockey-equipment-and-history

History of Hockey, 2016, International Hockey Federation, http://www.fih.ch/hockey-basics/history/

History of Hockey, n.d, England Hockey, http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/page.asp?section=1147

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