Handball
The sport of Handball dates back to the beginning of human civilization and over the centuries has been a sport for all classes. Today handball is one of the most widely played street sports in the country. Here is a glimpse of the long but simple history of handball in 77 seconds.
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HISTORY OF HANDBALL
Sports involving striking a ball with a hand have existed since ancient times. References to games in which a ball is hit or thrown extend as far back as Homer and ancient Egypt. A game similar to handball was played by the northern and central Americans from 1500 B.C., most famously by the Aztecs as the MesoAmerican ballgame. None of these reference a rebound game using a wall, however, and these ancient games resemble a form of hand tennis.
The first recorded game of striking a ball with a hand against a wall was in Scotland in 1427, when it was recorded that King James I ordered a cellar window in his palace courtyard blocked up, as it was interfering with his game. In Ireland, the earliest written record of a similar ball game is contained in the town statutes of Galway of 1527, 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 till 1785. The sport of handball in Ireland was eventually standardized as Gaelic handball.
Handball was brought to the United States by Irish immigrants. The earliest records of the game being played in the country list two handball courts in San Francisco in 1873. From there, the sport grew rapidly over the next few decades. In the early 1900s, when four-wall handball was already well established, a one-wall game was developed in New York City by beach-goers who hit bald tennis balls with their hands against the sides of the wooden jetties that lined beaches. This led to a rise in one-wall handball around the beaches of New York, and by the 1930s, thousands of one-wall courts, both indoor and outdoor, had been built throughout the city. American handball today is seen predominantly in parks and school yards in Brooklyn, NY, Queens, NY and Lynbrook, NY.
Sports involving striking a ball with a hand have existed since ancient times. References to games in which a ball is hit or thrown extend as far back as Homer and ancient Egypt. A game similar to handball was played by the northern and central Americans from 1500 B.C., most famously by the Aztecs as the MesoAmerican ballgame. None of these reference a rebound game using a wall, however, and these ancient games resemble a form of hand tennis.
The first recorded game of striking a ball with a hand against a wall was in Scotland in 1427, when it was recorded that King James I ordered a cellar window in his palace courtyard blocked up, as it was interfering with his game. In Ireland, the earliest written record of a similar ball game is contained in the town statutes of Galway of 1527, 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 till 1785. The sport of handball in Ireland was eventually standardized as Gaelic handball.
Handball was brought to the United States by Irish immigrants. The earliest records of the game being played in the country list two handball courts in San Francisco in 1873. From there, the sport grew rapidly over the next few decades. In the early 1900s, when four-wall handball was already well established, a one-wall game was developed in New York City by beach-goers who hit bald tennis balls with their hands against the sides of the wooden jetties that lined beaches. This led to a rise in one-wall handball around the beaches of New York, and by the 1930s, thousands of one-wall courts, both indoor and outdoor, had been built throughout the city. American handball today is seen predominantly in parks and school yards in Brooklyn, NY, Queens, NY and Lynbrook, NY.
AMERICAN HANDBALL
(known in the United States simply as handball)
A sport in which players use their hands to hit a small rubber ball against a wall so that it bounces off in such a way that their opponent cannot return it. There are three versions of handball (four-wall, three-wall and one-wall) that can each be played by either two players(singles), three players(cut-throat) or four players(doubles).
(known in the United States simply as handball)
A sport in which players use their hands to hit a small rubber ball against a wall so that it bounces off in such a way that their opponent cannot return it. There are three versions of handball (four-wall, three-wall and one-wall) that can each be played by either two players(singles), three players(cut-throat) or four players(doubles).
OLDEST HANDBALL???? Collection: Museum Victoria
Ball - colth, circa 1880. Found under floorboards of one of the oldest buildings (1880s) at Caloola Training Centre, Sunbury, a psychiatric hospital in Victoria Australia. May have been used either as a handball or a football.
Description:
Handmade ball has flattened base. Brown cloth covering has worn away on top and sides and continues to unravel. Second layer of brown and pink-brown fibres also unravelling. Third layer of black compacted fibre visible on top of ball. Outer cloth sewn together around middle of ball.
Ball - colth, circa 1880. Found under floorboards of one of the oldest buildings (1880s) at Caloola Training Centre, Sunbury, a psychiatric hospital in Victoria Australia. May have been used either as a handball or a football.
Description:
Handmade ball has flattened base. Brown cloth covering has worn away on top and sides and continues to unravel. Second layer of brown and pink-brown fibres also unravelling. Third layer of black compacted fibre visible on top of ball. Outer cloth sewn together around middle of ball.
ABE LINCOLN Handball Player
In 1860 Abe Lincoln, a young lawyer, was playing handball behind their law office in Springfield, Illinois, when he got word from the Republican National Convention he had been nominated to run for president. Pictured is the Abe Lincoln handball. It was found in a dresser drawer when Lincoln's Springfield home was being restored in the 1950s. Today the handball is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Abe Lincoln is pictured on the cover of the February 1971 USHA ACE magazine.
In 1860 Abe Lincoln, a young lawyer, was playing handball behind their law office in Springfield, Illinois, when he got word from the Republican National Convention he had been nominated to run for president. Pictured is the Abe Lincoln handball. It was found in a dresser drawer when Lincoln's Springfield home was being restored in the 1950s. Today the handball is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Abe Lincoln is pictured on the cover of the February 1971 USHA ACE magazine.