[highlight]Introduction[/highlight]
[media]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/DSC_0313.JPG[/media]
Oh hey, if you are reading this, you are obviously interested in this thread. So, as we begin, a brief history involving tennis balls, thanks to Wikipedia.
[quote=Wikipedia]In the early years of tennis, balls were often made of leather stuffed with hair or wool. Shakespeare refers to this in Much Ado About Nothing (Act III, Scene II):
CLAUDIO
No, but the barber's man hath been seen with him,
and the old ornament of his cheek hath already stuffed tennis-balls.
In 1480, Louis XI of France forbade the filling of tennis balls with chalk, sand, sawdust, or earth, and stated that they were to be made of good leather well-stuffed with wool.[1] Other early tennis balls were made by Scottish craftsmen from a wool-wrapped stomach of a sheep or goat and tied with rope. Those recovered from the hammer-beam roof of Westminster Hall during a period of recent restoration were found to have been manufactured from a combination of putty and human hair, and were dated to the reign of Henry VIII. Other versions, using materials such as animal fur, rope made from animal intestines and muscles, and pine wood, were found in Scottish castles dating back to the 16th century. In the 18th century, ¾" strips of wool were wound tightly around a nucleus made by rolling a number of strips into a little ball. String was then tied in many directions around the ball and a white cloth covering sewn around the ball. This explains why modern rubber tennis balls still have a cloth covering (in the early days of lawn tennis, it proved quite difficult to get the cloth to adhere very well to the rubber). This type of cloth ball, with a cork core, is still used for the original game of tennis, today called real tennis. With the introduction of lawn tennis in the 1870s, vulcanized rubber was first used to manufacture balls, often in tubes of four with a package, but not with the name of the brand.[/quote]
Now that that's over and done with, the base of this thread is about tennis balls and what you can do with them, games, tricks, whatever. I'm going to tell you about a couple of tricks I know myself.
[highlight]Tricks[/highlight]
1. My own, I don't know what to call it (inspire me, Facepunch, make a name for it), but to do it, throw a tennis ball at the ground with moderate force, when it is about chest-high, place your hand under it and lift it up slightly, now take your hand away and hit it downwards quickly. When it bounces up to your chest again, grab it. I mostly like to do this with my right arm about once, but I have tried alternating arms and doing it again over and over again.
2. To do this trick, hold the tennis ball in your hand, your palm facing your face and throw the tennis ball at your elbow, the one that belongs to the arm you are using to hold the ball, quickly flex your elbow so it bounces back to your hand, catch it.
[highlight]Games[/highlight]
In before tennis.
The game me and friends like to play is called handball, or 2 square, right now I'm going to tell you the rules.
The preparation time is pretty much zilch, you need a court and a tennis ball.
In handball, there are two players, if there is more than two, they wait for their turn.
One player is the King and the other is the Queen. In some variations of the game, the King can change the rules or when defeated can change to Queen instead of go out, when this is done it is called a King's Chance.
So find a court, have one player go in each half, make sure there is a line or something in the middle so you can measure outs and lines.
The King serves, the idea of the same is simple, you hit the tennis ball with your hands onto your square and on theirs to try and get them out. You can get them out by making the ball bounce on their square twice or make it bounce and then go into an out zone, but beware, if it DOESN'T bounce first and it goes into the out zone, you're out. If you hit it past your square without it bouncing on your square, you are also out.
You hit the ball with your hand, you only get one try (unless Double Touch is allowed) to bounce it on your square and onto theirs. If you get them out, you become King and you serve. Usually you can only hit it with your hand once and you cannot grab onto it (called a Full Carry, and if you are caught you're out).
In variations of the game, there are special moves. I'll make a list of them and tell you how to do each of them.
1. Bus Stop, a common one. When the ball comes to you, use one or both of your hands to either stop it or throw it up into the air, when it bounces, hit it on your square and onto theirs.
2. Irish, quite common too, like a Bus Stop, only you hit it on a full instead of bouncing it on your square.
3. Dragon, this one is a bit tricky. It's like an Irish, only when it bounces, instead of flat out hitting it you've got to face your side to it and flick your hand to get it across. Takes some skill to do.
4. Traffic Light, like a Bus Stop, only you let it bounce 3 times instead of once.
5. Shoe Shine, like a normal hit, only you use your shoe.
Now, between you and your opponents squares should be a line, if it hits the line it can result in a replay, be forgotten or someone can call, "Line, my claims!" which means replay, but they get to serve.
Another thing that can result in a replay is Rolls, if the ball rolls then it results in a replay.
Now that you know Handball, or 2-square, there is a 4 player variant of it called 4-square.
There are 4 ranks, sort of, King, Queen, Jack and Shit/Poop/Manure/Excrement/Whateverthehellyoucallwaste
It goes, obviously, King > Queen > Jack > Shit.
King serves, but other than that there is no diffirence between the ranks.
If someone gets out, if they are a Jack or higher, they go to Shit and then everyone goes one rank higher.
Since there are 4 players, sometimes at the beggining of games, some people call "Service" which means you've got to serve the ball to them.
One last rule is that if it bounces on someone else's square, then yours, then someone else's, you're out.
[highlight]Conclusion[/highlight]
Alright, guys, have fun. If you know any more tricks, games or anything else you think I should add to the thread, post it and I will update the original (and give you credit).
ShuttleCocks are cooler
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/ShuttlecockPhoto.jpg[/img]
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Snipe." - ventilated))[/highlight]
You can't play 2-square with a shuttlecock
inb4 sex joke
[editline]06:29PM[/editline]
and i believe it's Ace - King - Queen - Jack
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Memeshit." - ventilated))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=ballsy;17493077]inb4 sex joke
[editline]06:29PM[/editline]
and i believe it's Ace - King - Queen - Jack[/QUOTE]
Meh, that's how we did it at school. King - Queen - Jack - Shit
We did a pretty simple version of this, using the square slabs of concrete in our primary (elementary) school. The squares went around the stairs so it was really confusing, but sometimes we had like 15 player games, pretty awesome.
It went:
God, King, Queen, Jack, Baby, Shit ~ various inappropriate names later ~ Fetus.
do never watch the amerikan play tennis, you will fall asleep watching the slow and sluggish movements of slugs with legs
I used to steal Tennis Balls in my youth. A rich asshole would get the ball over the court chain link fence, we would get up from the ditch we were hiding in, and then take the balls.
Oh the angry screams of those bastards..I miss my childhood.
I love playing Tennis. Tennis balls are amazingly useful for lots of shit, though.
My friends did nothing but play this (except with 4 people at once because my school actually had courts for it) for an entire year.
IN YEAR 4.
The only people in high school who play this are the incredibly socially inept people...
As in, even more socially inept than myself.
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