Handball (schoolyard game)

This article is about the Australian schoolyard game. For other games of this name played in schools, see Handball (disambiguation).

Handball is a children's ball game widely documented in Australian schools, similar to downball. The rules of the game vary considerably across different sites and conditions, but it is generally played on a flat game court with lined square zones (occasionally with a wall for rebounds), and involves at least two players, who each occupies a square and take turns hitting a ball (often a tennis ball, squash ball or, occasionally, a bouncy ball) with their bare hands into other player's square(s). The game is very easy to set up and can be conveniently adapted to any environments where square/rectangular-lined flat grounds can be found, such as other gyms/arenas, parking spaces and even concrete slabbed driveways and footpaths.

Handball

Players	2 minimum
Skills	Manual dexterity Strategy Social skills Hand-eye coordination Endurance Strength Determination

In Australia and New Zealand, the sport is sometimes confused with European handball, an Olympic sport that is not widely played in either country. In New Zealand, where the game has been played since at least the 1970s, it is also known as four square, and handball may well have developed from the court sport of the same name.

History

On July 4, 1954, the American folklorist Dorothy Howard arrived in Australia. In the next nine months, she visited nineteen primary schools across the country to painstakingly document the folk games the children played. Among the children's games Howard recorded was four square, also known as handball, which was played in seven of the schools. The rules of the game varied between them, and many schools played with considerable deviations.^[1][2]

Rules

Note: only the main, basic rules that are used universally in almost every handball game are included. There are hundreds of deviation rules, which can be found on other websites online.

• A game must have at least two players, but can accommodate as many players as squares that are available as long as the number of squares are even.
• Each player has a square as their territory. There are multiple different orders of the squares possible, depending on the area and school. Here, we focus on the most common order. Ace' is the topmost square, followed by 'Kings', 'Queens', 'Jack' and 'Dunce' for the bottom square.

  

  The layout of the 2 square version of Australian Handball.

• The person in the leading square (Ace) 'serves' the ball, bouncing it once within their square before it can enter an opponent's square.
• Once the serve is complete, the receiver must hit the ball to any another player, including the sender.
• The ball must be hit so that it bounces in the player's own square on the first bounce, and into another player's square on the second bounce.

  

  Example of an valid pass in Australian Schoolyard Handball.

Ways to become 'out'

• When the ball lands outside of the court, the last person who touched the ball or the person in the last square the ball touched is 'out'.
• Full/Straight/Lob: When the ball lands in another player's square on the first bounce, the player has 'lobbed' or has hit a 'foul'. In some variants, if a player does not catch the ball and continues to play, they have 'played the lob/foul' also known as a 'full play' and are therefore out.
• Double Bounce/Dubs/Doubles: When the ball bounces twice in a person's square, the person who is in that square is out. Usually known as 'double', 'double bounce'.
• Double Touch: when the ball is touched twice in a row by the same person. This typically results in the person becoming 'out'.
• Grabs/Carry: when the ball is held or scooped instead of a clean hit, resulting in the elimination or demotion of the person who grabbed.
• When a player is out, they must proceed to the lowest square, or to the end of the line of players waiting to enter the court. Players on the court who were in a lower position each move up a square. On 4 square courts there is one relegation square, with 6 or more squares there will usually be two. With two elimination squares it becomes possible for a player who just moved up from the first square to be eliminated and sent back to the line by the player they just pushed down to the first square.

Ways for a 'replay' to happen

• If an object/person interferes with the play, the point will be replayed, known as a 'replay'.
• Interference/In-toes: if a player interferes with another player or when a non-player interferes with gameplay,^[3] usually by walking across the court, it usually results in the offender becoming out and a replay.
• If the first bounce lands on a line and is not a 'full' or a 'double', it is known as 'lines/liner'.^[4] When 'lines/liner' is called the point is replayed.
• Rolls/Dead Ball: if the player hits the ball in such a manner that it rolls along the ground, without bouncing, "rolls/dead ball" is allowed to be called and the ball is picked up and replayed/re-served.

In popular culture

A Spaldeen autographed by Kevin Rudd

Handball has entered the meme culture. In March 2013, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd released a video of him playing handball at Brisbane State High School,^[5] which led to him becoming part of a "handball meme". In late November 2017, Rudd played handball with students in a school in Brisbane, and the accompanying video - claiming he was the "king of handball" - reached 40,000 views on Facebook.^[when?][6]

Handball is the main theme of the children's television series, Handball Heroes, which aired on ABC Me (Then ABC 3) in 2013, as well as Hardball which aired on ABC Me in 2019.^[7][8]