History of the ball

The ships of Columbus again anchored off the coast of the island, discovered by the brave Spanish admiral a year ago and named him Hispaniola( now this island country is called Haiti).But why was the navigator so surprised, watching from the side of the caravel for the natives who played on the beach in the ball? It was the ball that drew his attention. It was black, large in size and heavy, but when it struck the ground, it jumped rather high into the air. It seemed incredible, because the ball consisted of a solid solid mass."As if alive," thought the admiral.

It was a long time before it became clear that the ball was made of resin. A resin local residents extracted from the cuts of bark of trees, and they called it "caoutchouc"( from the words "kaa" - "tree" and "o-chu" - "cry").Now this resin is known all over the world under the name "rubber".

Columbus sailors brought to Spain a rubber ball the size of a child's head, but as they were played by Indians - no one, of course, knew. And in Latin America, games with a rubber ball were popular for 3000 years before the arrival of the Spaniards. The game involved two teams, each of which had from 2 to 10 players. They played a massive rubber ball, which weighed from 2 to 4 kilograms. Players supported the ball in motion, hitting it with all parts of the body, except for the hands and feet. More precisely, it was allowed to touch the ball with a knee or an elbow, but it was strictly forbidden to beat the foot or palm. A goal was scored when the player hit the ring of the opposing team. The ring was attached to the wall not very high from the ground, but not horizontally, as now when playing basketball, but vertically. To protect themselves from the blows of the ball, players wore "armor" like the ones that hockey players wear today. But not so much scared the punches of the ball, as a loss. After all, the game itself was, rather, not a game, but a ritual rite and it ended with a sacrifice - the captain of the losing team was waiting for death.

In 1528, the conqueror of Mexico, Ernan Cortes, returned to Spain. He presented many gifts to the king. Among them, a rubber ball and several teams of Indians, who demonstrated their game.

Since then, the victorious procession of the rubber ball and games to it across countries and continents began, although balls from other materials have been known for many centuries.

During the matriarchy, there were already grass and wool balls.4000 years ago in Egypt there were balls from the skin and bark of trees. At that time, the game of ball from fragile sandstone was popular - it could not be dropped to the ground. The ancient Greeks skinned the bladder of large animals and threw them to each other, or simply tied a round sack of sand to the ceiling and pushed it. The Romans filled the balls with the grains of fig fruit. There were also glass balls - they were played only one by one.

Today, as soon as you do not play ball: racket and stick, in the water and on the sports field, on horseback and on a motorcycle. Yes, and the balls themselves vary greatly in size and purpose: for basketball, water polo, football, etc. And every ball, like the game, has its own story.

Take at least basketball. The name this game received from the merger of two English words: "basketball" - "basket" and "bol" - "ball".Indeed, originally the players threw the ball into the real basket. So invented the creator of this game - instructor in the sport of one of the American universities D. Naismith in 1891.He invited his students to hit the ball in goal.

As a goal, they chose a large fruit basket, which was nailed to the ceiling. The ball thrown there gave more trouble than joy - every time he had to get out of there. This is very quickly fed up, and someone has guessed to just take the bottom out of the basket - the balls began to fall to the floor. The game soon migrated from America to other countries in Europe and Asia. First

basketball players, like water polo players, used leather balls. They were covered with grease so that they did not swell from the water. Of course, it would be better to use rubber balls, but the sportsmen were not persuaded to convince sooner - the force of habit! Now the balls for fans of basketball and water polo are only rubber, which is fixed by the relevant rules.

Indian ritual ball game.

But the players refused the rubber ball, because it quickly becomes slippery, and it's hard to drive such a ball with your feet. The football game obeys strict rules, and for the size of the ball, too, rigid norms are set. They say: "The circumference of the ball before the start of the game should not exceed 71 centimeters and be less than 68 centimeters. The ball at the beginning of the game should not be heavier than 543 grams and lighter than 396 grams. "This is the easiest ball to play. There are special balls. For example, a soccer ball is created that produces continuous sounds during the game. According to the plan of inventors, he will play football blind.

Modern football is played by 147 nations around the world. The game with a leather ball has turned into the most popular sport. Read the merry poem by A. Barto "Peter on Football", there are such lines:

grandmother

Balls are needed for many other, albeit not as popular as football, games. Try to find out what it is. .. The ball is still in the air, and the player is already running to the cherished line. If only to have time to cross it, until the opponent rises the ball and throws it at you. Faster, faster! Learned? Probably not, although this game - Lapta - was one of the most beloved in Russia."Trunks and lazy people in this game have no place" - that's what the famous Russian writer AI Kuprin wrote at one time. Russian Lapta is a national sport game. She has "relatives" in other countries. In England it is cricket, in Romania - ohna, in Czechoslovakia - glade, and in Cuba and in the USA - baseball.

Do you know?

In which games does the ball apply?

Football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, water polo and many others.