Sports for a Summer Day

Sports for a Summer Day

You'd play a lot more if you could remember the rules. Here they are:

Baffled about how to keep score in badminton? Not sure how to set up the croquet wickets? Unclear on the difference between a leaner and a ringer in horseshoes? Don't know whether or not you have to win the serve before getting a point in volleyball? Here are the basic rules and regulations for four popular pastimes. So go ahead and dig out the equipment you've stashed in a musty basement corner and hit the backyard or beach.

Badminton

Badminton was popular in England in the 1870s, after being imported from India, where it was called poona by British army officers. The eighth duke of Beaufort introduced the game to English society at his estate, called Badminton, in Gloucester. Hence the name. Now, it is the national sport of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and a backyard favorite in the United States and Canada.

Badminton is similar to tennis. The object is to volley, with light racquets, a shutllecock or bird (a small, hemispheric cork with a tail of 14 to 16 feathers) until it is missed by your opponent or hit our of bounds. The game can be played indoors or outdoors, by two or four people.

Badminton: Racket, head/frame, springs, t-piece, ferrade, grip, handle, belt end. Shuttlecock/shuttlebird – ribs, skirt,.

The rules: The initial serve goes from the right half of the court to the half diagonally opposite. The serving team continues to serve until losing a rally or committing a fault. A fault occurs if you serve overhand, touch the net, or do not serve diagonally across the court. Points may only be scored by the serving team. In doubles, a player serves until his team commits a fault, at which time the teammate gains the serve. Following each game, the players switch sides. The winning side serves fist.

Scoring: All doubles and men's singles games are played to 15 or 21 points, while women play to 11. The first player or team to win two games wins the match. If a match goes to three games, the players switch sides when the score reaches 8 in a 15-point game and 6 in an 11-point game. In a 15-point game, the team to reach 13 first has the option of extending the game to 18 points if the score becomes tied at 13. In 11-point games, the score may be extended to 12 if the game becomes tied at either 9 or 10. In a one-game match to 21 points, the score may be extended to 24 if there is a tie at 19 or extended to 23 if the game is tied at 20.

New York Central Park, a stade in summer day. Photo by Elena.

Croquet

The game probably originated in France in the 17th century. It became popular in England and Ireland during the 19th century and made its way to the United Stats in about 1870. It was one of the first games in which women and men competed on an even basis. There are three leading modern versions of the game: American lawn croquet, English croquet and roque. Most croquet balls are made of wood, but better balls are made of wood, but better balls are made of hard rubber or plastic. The mallet head may be of wood or other material.

The rules: There are two courses: nine wickets and two stakes or six wickets and one stake. In the American nine-wicket game, the court is fitted to the area available. The English court has definite boundaries and locations for the six wickets and peg. A toss determines who gets which color. These colors are usually painted on the stake, or peg, and control the order of play. Players – two to eight people can play at one time – use balls of the color allocated to them The first striker hits the ball with his mallet at the balkline or home stake, depending on what course one is playing on. Subsequent players do likewise. The course leads through the wickets, or hoops. The strikers alternate turns.

Your turn continues as long as you drive the ball through the proper wicket. If you fail to go through a wicket or hit another player's ball, you lose your turn. You also lose your turn if your mallet hits the wicket or the ground, but not the ball, or if your mallet accidentally hits another player's ball.

A striker makes a roquet by knocking his ball into an opponent's. If you do so, you have three options : 1) You may place your ball against your opponent's ball away ; 2) You can drive both balls ; or 3) you can simply place your ball ahead of your opponent's and take two strokes. Once you hit an opponent's ball, you cannot hit it again until you go through another wicket.

Scoring: A ball put through the proper wicket in the proper direction scores a point. Winners are decided by the total points scored or by the order in which the course is completed.

Where to place the peg and stick the wickets, and which order to play them in.

Six wickets: The traditional English version of croquet requires definite boundaries, but only a single stake.

Nine wickets: The field in the American version can be shaped to the available terrain, but requires two stakes.

Horseshoes

The early Celts were the first to fit horses with shoes. But the game of horseshoe pitching, by some accounts, originated with Greek and Roman soldiers. The more modern version of the game developed in England and mainland Europe during the 17th century. The National Horseshoe Pitchers of the United States was formed in 1915.

The rules: The object of the game is to toss a shoe so that it rings the metal stake or comes closer to the stake than your opponent's toss. In singles, both contestants throw from the same sid of the course. Shoes are tossed underhand.

Learner, or hobbers, and shoes actually touching the stake count only as close shoes. In informal games, a leaner can count for two points. Each pitcher is allotted two tosses in an inning. The pitcher who scores in an inning leads off the next.

The rules:Each ringer is worth three points. Each shoe closer than an opponent's is worth one point, but shoes only score when landing within 6 inches of the stake. If an opponent's shoe knocks a ringer off, it loses value. Two points are awarded if you land two shoes closer than any of your opponents. Leaners, or hobbers, and shoes actually touching the stake count only as close shoes. In informal games, a leaner can count for to points. Singles matches are usually played to 50 points, doubles matches to 21.

Volleyball

Volleyball originated in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1895. William G. Morgan, physical director of the Young Men's Christian Association in Holyoke is credited with the invention of the game. It's been modified since and now is played indoors and outdoors and is included in the Olympics.

The rules: There ares six people on each team – usually three forward and three back. The The height of the net varies: 8 feet high for men, 7 ½ height for women, and sometimes lover for kids. The players can hit the ball to each other before hitting it back over the net. However, the ball can only be hit a maximum of three times on one side of the net. A player may not hit the ball twice in a row. When the serve changes hands, players rotate clockwise, so that each player gets to serve.

Scoring: Points are scored by hitting the ball into the opposing court in a way so the competition cannot return it. The team serving gains one point for doing this and continues serving. If the receiving team does it, it wins the right to serve. A game in 15 points, but it must be won by two points, thus 14 to 14 tie continues until either team gains a two-point advantage. When the serve changes hands, players rotate clockwise, so that each player gets to serve.

Wrestling

The two kinds of Olympic wrestling, Greco-Roman and freestyle, bear almost no resemblance to the farcical “sport” that is known for Hulk Hogan and the like who features their performances. The aim is the same: pin your opponent by holding his shoulders to the mat for a half-second.

In Olympic wrestling pins are dramatic but relatively rare. Instead, wrestlers accumulate points for a series of techniques and maneuvers, including takedowns (bringing an opponent to the mat) and reversals (moving from underneath an opponent to controlling him from above).

If a match is tied after five minutes or if no wrestler has accumulated three points or more during that time, a three-minute overtime will ensue. The primary difference between the two styles of wrestling: in Greco-Roman, competitors may not grasp their opponents below the waist or use their legs in any wrestling move,

Who to watch: Turkey, Russia, Cuba, Iran, South Korea, Germany are well-known in freestyle; Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Moldova, Azerbaijan are strong in Greco-Roman.