Tetherball

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The ball most used is similar to a volleyball, therefore, the game is believed to have been developed some time after 1895 when the game of volleyball was invented.

There is a popular version of the game called paddleball that is played in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where a smaller ball is hung from a pole and hit with paddles.

History

A game is won when one player has wrapped the rope as far as it can go in his/her own direction.

Objective

Games and Matches: The players can choose how many games

must be won to win the match, but the margin of victory must be at least two games.

Serve: Once served, the server has to wait until

either the opponent strikes the ball or the ball has wrapped four times before he/she can strike the ball again.

Gameplay

In tetherball, as in many other sports, gaining and keeping control of the ball is the key to winning. The most common way to keep control of the ball is to hit it over your opponent's reach each time it comes around.

Strategy

For most servers, the smart play is to hit the ball at a sharp angle so that the plane in which it flies is tilted closer to vertical than horizontal.

With the ball moving up and down on such an extreme tilt, you will easily see where it will come down to your opponent, so you can position yourself accordingly.

Strategy

Stealing the Ball The sacrifice wrap: when a ball approaches from

your opponent's hit that is too high or awkwardly angled for you to hit back over her easily, your best choice is often to hit the ball once in her direction, setting yourself up for an easy hit in your own direction. After you sacrifice the wrap, move forward in your own half to take the offense.

When on defense, you need to keep moving forward and back within your half.

Strategy

Hitting Techniques When you do get a chance to hit an

oncoming ball solidly, an unusual hitting technique often works better than the one- or two-fisted punch. Try hitting the ball simultaneously with the pinky-end pad of your dominant hand and the palm of your other hand. This gives you the ideal combination of power and control.

Strategy

Hitting Techniques When you have control of the ball,

hitting with the fingers and palm of your inside hand is the best choice.

A punch might hit be too hard or too wobbly to allow you to hit well on the next wrap.

Strategy

Stepping off sides. Touching the rope. Carrying or throwing. When hitting a ball back

against the direction from which it comes, the ball should bounce off the hands immediately, with no lingering contact. When hitting a ball that has passed the opponent and continuing it on its way, the ball cannot be carried or thrown. Serves must be hit, not thrown.

Double hitting A player can hit the ball only once per wrap around the pole, except if the ball hits the pole between hits.

Violations

When a player commits any one of these violations, the ball is stopped and returned to the place it was wrapped when the violation occurred. The other player gets to serve.If a player commits any three violations, the opponent wins the game. The only intentional violation is grabbing

the pole. The penalty is immediate loss of game.

Violations

A full-sized tetherball pole rises 10' above ground level.

Although the most common site for a tetherball court is on a lawn, heavy use will turn that area into mud in short order. Falling should be very rare for most players, so a hard surface should be safe.

Court

No outer boundary circle is needed for the court, because there's no advantage to getting very far from the pole, but it's best to have at least 8', preferably 10', of clear, level ground all around the pole. The only boundary needed is a line dividing the court into two equal halves.

The rope's length should be set so that the bottom of the ball ends up two feet above the ground when the rope is not wrapped and the ball is at rest.

Court

Court