Tchoukball (pronounced ciukbol) is a team sport that was created in Switzerland in the ‘60s by the Swiss biologist Hermann Brandt. Tchoukball is played by two teams of 9 or 7 players with a ball similar to handball and two special rebound frames placed at the ends of the court. The size of the court can vary: 20 m × 40 m for the game 9 vs. 9, 15 m × 28 m (the same size as a basketball court) for the game 7 against 7. There are no special surfaces: gym, synthetic pitches, but also sand courts may be used for this sport.

There is in fact a beach version i.e. on sand in which case the court is smaller (13 m × 23 m) and there are 5 players per team. In all its variations the area in front of the rebound frame is a semi-circle with a radius of 3m. There are quite a few peculiarities in tchoukball making it a very fast sport and, if it is played at a high level, also very technical but at the same time it is immediate, fun and accessible. The game begins with the ball being thrown in from the baseline, alongside one of the frames, the team in possession has three passes to build an action, before attacking and throwing it against the frame. Having an elastic net rather than a goal that holds the ball makes it come back more quickly. If the ball falls to the ground in the court but not in the area in front of the panel, the offensive team has scored a point, however, if it is grabbed by the opponents play resumes immediately and the team that defended (taking the ball) becomes the offensive team.

The particularity of this game is that you can attack, i.e. throw the ball, at either panel, which are available to both teams (for a maximum of three consecutive attacks). Clearly the classical patterns of attack and defence are completely different with the attack phase being determined solely by the possession of the ball, and by throwing the ball at the panel. For these reasons the game is full of feints, counterattacks, fast and unexpected actions, nothing can be taken for granted and all players must constantly follow the movement of the ball without being distracted since as there are two areas to attack, it also means that there are 2 to defend. When the ball is being passed it cannot be intercepted by the defending players also because there is no need considering that each team only has 3 steps to complete an action. For the same reason you cannot block your opponents in their movements.

source: www.wikipedia.org/tchoukball

Tags: ball games, handball, sand games, tchoukball, team sports