American handball: Difference between revisions

'''American handball''', known as '''handball''' in the United States and sometimes referred to as '''wallball''', is a sport in which players use their hands to hit a small, rubber ball against a wall such that their opponent(s) cannot do the same without the ball touching the ground twice or hitting [[out-of-boundbounds]]. The three versions are four-wall, three-wall and [[One-wall handball|one-wall]] (also known as ''Wallball'' or ''international fronton''). Each version can be played either by two players (singles), three players (cutthroat) or four players (doubles), but in official tournaments, singles and doubles are the only versions played.

TheReferences firstto similar games (then referred to as either "hand-tennis" and "hand-ball") have been found as early as 1287, when the Synod of Exeter banned the game due to the damage it caused to church buildings.<ref>http://www.derbymoorfives.net/documents/2014%20Fives%20Ball%20article%20from%20Douglas%20Rice.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}</ref> Other notable examples of wall ball games being banned include Robert Braybrooke, Bishop of London, who in 1385 prohibited the game. Another recorded game of striking a ball against a wall using a hand was in [[Scotland]] in 1427, when [[James I of Scotland|King James I]] ordered a cellar window in his palace courtyard to be blocked up, as it was interfering with his game.<ref>{{citation | last=Crego | first=Robert | year=2003 | title=Sports and games of the 18th and 19th centuries | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn=978-0-313-31610-4 }}</ref> In Ireland, the earliest written record of a similar game is in the 1527 town statutes of [[Galway]], which forbade the playing of ball games against the walls of the town. The first depiction of an Irish form of handball does not appear until 1785.<ref>The History of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Canada By John O'Flynn, Ainsley Baldwin Trafford Publishing, 2008 p176</ref> The sport of handball in Ireland was eventually standardized as [[Gaelic handball]]. By the mid-19th century, Australians were playing a similar game, which developed into the modern sport of [[Australian handball]].<ref name=worldbookaustralia>"Handball" (article), The World Book Encyclopedia - Australasia 1970, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, Chicago Illinois, (fieldwork assistance by Field Educational Enterprises of Australasia Pty. Ltd., North Sydney, Australia, p. 370</ref>

[[File:handballcourt.jpg|thumb|324x324px|Dimensions of a typical handball court]]

[[Category:Wall -and -ball games]]