I was looking around on the internet a few nights ago and actually found what I was looking for … an unusual sport.
It’s a sport that is designed to be played without violence or aggressiveness.
It’s called Tchoukball and it bars striving for personal or team prestige. Its aim instead is to promote striving for excellence through personal training and collective effort.
Tchoukball was invented in the 1960’s by Dr. Hermann Brandt. Brandt had written a book entitled “A Scientific Criticism of Team Games.”
A Canadian website devoted to the game, (http://www.tchoukball.ca/english/) says it is a “fast-paced team sport, offering many possibilities.” The site quotes Dr. Brandt as saying “The objective of human physical activities is not to make champions but to make a contribution to building a harmonious society.”
Sounds pretty revolutionary to me.
The game is played on a handball court with nine players on a side, or on a basketball court with six or seven players per team.
A rebound surface is placed at each end of the court and a three-radius semicircle is drawn in front of it. This is called “The Forbidden Zone.”
The object is to throw the ball (they use a handball) against the rebound surface. A team scores a point if the ball bounces off the rebound surface and hits the ground before a member of the other team can catch it.
The team with the ball cannot pass more than three times before they shoot and cannot take more than three steps before passing off. Players are not allowed to interfere with each other and interception of passes is not allowed.
The rebound surfaces are elastic net strung a one meter square frame. A meter is about equal to a yard. The frames are inclined away from the court at about 55 degrees. The teams can shoot at either rebound surface.
Tchoukball leaves me only lukewarm. As an activity to promote activity, it sounds pretty effective. There is a lot of running and teamwork involved.
I have to wonder, though, how you play a game, a contest of any sort, and not generate feelings of prestige or “I’m better that you are.”
From the NHL to tiddlywinks, competition is an essential part of any contest. That’s why contests take place. Two or more people have opinions about whether their feet, horse or car is faster, whether their local youngsters are stronger than those in the next village.
You can’t have one without the other.