What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

handball: still a thing?

In primary school, in mid-nineties New South Wales, Australia, I played a game called handball at lunch and recess. This involved a tennis ball, either a two- or four-box grid that was painted or chalked on the asphalt, and two or four players accordingly. It was basically hand tennis without a net: you ‘served’ the ball by bouncing it on the ground in your square over the line to your opponent, who could only let it bounce once in their square before returning play in kind, and so on until there was either a double bounce, a shot that went over the line on the full, or the ball went out. If you did a power shot (a hard, fast hit with a spin that often went low) and the ball ended up rolling, you could call “Rolls, pickups, play on!” and serve again, though sometimes you’d agree that, once the ball was rolling, you could also hit it back at a roll. 

If you were playing the four-square version, the squares were called King, Queen, Jack and Dunce - or sometimes Ace, King, Queen and Jack, depending on where you went to school - and the game was a rotating one. The person in the high square (King or Ace) would serve, and every time a point was won, the winner would move up a square, so that the loser had to rotate to Jack/Dunce. If the person in the lowest square was called out, a new player could enter the game; otherwise, in the two-player version, you’d either play to a set number of points, or the first out person would swap with a waiting player.

As a kid, I loved handball. In term, I played it almost daily between the ages of six and eleven, and I’m reasonably sure that I still played sometimes in early high school. But now, as an adult of 31, it’s suddenly struck me that I’ve never encountered any reference to handball in any other context. I’ve never seen it mentioned in stories or heard other adults talk about it, never seen younger kids playing it or overheard it mentioned since, and assuming I ever discussed it with friends as a teenager, I’ve now completely forgotten. 

So: is handball of this type a thing that still happens? Did other people play it as kids? Is it unique to Australia, or more universal, or do other Australians have no memory of it? I’m curious to know!

  1. tis-a-piece-of-emo-shit said: Yep, its still a thing. A damn huge thing πŸ˜„πŸ˜„πŸ˜„
  2. loveprovided said: Handball originated from my country, Denmark, and I can assure you that it’s very much still a thing all around the world 😊
  3. leozen730 reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    In nyc people still play it. When you get a chance can you please watch my YouTube video called India and Igor. The link...
  4. young-tired-and-weary said: I’m Australian and still in highschool, it is still played all over Australia (trust me I’ve been to over 14 high-schools across all states), its one of those things that just isn’t mentioned outside of school
  5. magicmidnightstorm reblogged this from imprintedonhim
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  10. megp08 said: I played the four-square version with a kickball in elementary school in Michigan. But I never heard my other siblings (8 years younger) talk about it.
  11. rescue-the-dodos reblogged this from vaporgay and added:
    Yeah I played this, less rules though
  12. curledonceaboutthehouse reblogged this from vaporgay
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