Tchoukball - no need to worry about contact induced injuries!

You can place it somewhere between handball, volleyball and basketball and the main goal is not to win but to properly stretch your bones and have fun with friends. The game is called tchoukball and Adam Šťastný, a student of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of the Charles University, is now scouting for a faculty team and promotes the relatively unknown sport among his schoolmates.

Tchoukball came to the Czech Republic about 15 years ago. However, its popularity spread mostly in the past few years and that is when Adam Štastný also became an enthusiast. "I started playing in 2011. I come from Ústí nad Labem - a city with a solid tchoukball base," explains the student of management in PE and sport at the Faculty. He wanted to build a tchoukball team immediately after coming to Charles University and so he started looking for new team members. "We are looking for just about anyone, no matter what age or gender. Tchoukball is not about high performance, it's about getting to know other people," says Adam, smiling and adding that the biggest player base can be found at the Faculty of Law and at the Faculties of Medicine. He reveals his plans: "Teams are currently being established at other universities in Prague. If there are enough, we would like to organize tournaments between the schools."   

Tchoukball was created at the beginning of 1970s by Swiss biologist Hermann Brandt. He wanted to create a contact-free sport that would not induce injuries and at the same time would promote communication between players and thus improve interpersonal relationships. Adam Šťastný himself started playing because of the people gathering around the game.

The game is played by two teams of seven on a basketball court. The goal is to hit one of the two "trampolines" - inclined rebound nets one square meter in size placed on both ends of the court. After hitting the trampoline, the ball has to touch the ground within the pitch, but it mustn't hit the semi-circle area around the net (3 meters in diameter), which is also a forbidden space for the players. When all these conditions are met, the team that shot the ball scores a point. However, if the ball is caught in the air by a member of the opposing team, the defensive position of this team immediately becomes a new charge.

Since all the players can aim at both the trampolines the game is very dynamic. The team that gets the most points within the 3 times 15 minutes of game time, is the winner. And the number three is quite symbolic for the game - players can make up to three steps with the ball, stand in one place holding the ball for up to three seconds and a shot at the trampoline can be made after three passes,maximum. However, defending players are not allowed to restrain the offense. "The opponent can basically catch only bounced-off balls," Adam Šťastný underlines the basic rule that constitutes the game and ensures that nobody has to worry about getting seriously injured during the game.  

The name of the game - tchoukball - comes from the strange sound the ball makes when bouncing off the net. If you want to play, you do not need to be inside a hall. Tournaments are held in sand, on grass and even in the water. The top tchoukball teams come from Taiwan, Canada and on the European level Switzerland, Austria and Italy. On an international scale, the Czechs also perform quite well.