HeadBall
The new sport of Head Ball was created by Amat Ndure from The Gambia, in west Africa in September 2015. This is a sport that is played using a helmet that has a transparent cylinder on top of it and the opening top of the cylinder is where the ball will be balanced to the time of passing, releasing or making a score on the goal post.
Headball Rules
The HeadBall pitch is a rectangular field and it has 2 semi-circular courts in front of each goal post these semi-circular courts has 8 spots each. These 8 spots found on the semi-circular courts are called the entering spots. They are called the entering spots because an opponent player cannot enter inside the court to make a score inside the goal post without stepping through an entering spot otherwise its a foul. Any player entering the court to make a score should step through an entering spot.
These entering spot can be defended by the players when they stand right on top of that particular entering spot they wish to defend thereby making it impossible for an opponent player to pass through it. In a situation when all the entering 8 spots has all 8 players standing on it to defend it is called a court trap because all 8 entering spots has all 8 players standing on them defending them. A Headball match has to restart when a court trap occurs.
A HeadBall match is restarted using what we called an in-play, an in-play is when a player volunteers to enter inside his court and throw the ball to any of his team mates who will be waiting outside for the thrown ball.
It is a pitch game played by two teams of 8 players in each team but the total number of team players are 16 players in a full headball team but only 8 players are allowed to start in a match. The main aim is for the player to balance the ball on top of his head until the time of release to make a pass or to make a score.
The HeadBall is played using an open face helmet just like a motorbike helmet. The Helmet has a transparent cylinder on top of it and this transparent cylinder has an open top to allow the ball to fall inside of it. The reason for the transparency of the cylinder top is to make the ball visible to every player on the pitch during play.
A complete Headball team is made up of 16 players and these 16 players are divided into four groups of four players in each group.
The first group are the Blockers, the Blockers are four in number and they are called the Blockers because they have the power to block an entering spot from entry from the opponent team players using a cone, the Blockers block an entering spot when they score a goal but the can block a maximum of 4 entering spots only. The Blockers also have the power to remove a blocking from their own court when they score a goal meaning with a single goal they score they can either choose to put a blocking cone on their court or to remove a cone on a blocked entering spot in the opponents court.
The second group of 4 players are called the Eliminators. They are called the Eliminators because they have the power to eliminate an opponent player when they score a single goal. They can choose either to eliminate an opponent player or to bring back an eliminated team mate back into the match using that single goal. The Eliminators can eliminate a maximum of 2 opponent players out of the match and nothing more.
The third group of players are the Scorers, they are called the Scorers because any single goal a Scorer scores is recorded as 3 points instead of 1 like the other players and if a Scorer scores a penalty it is also recorded as 3 points both in the match or during penalty shootouts.
The last group of 4 players are called the Takers because they are the only players with the power to steal the ball from inside an opponents helmet using hands. When the takers steal the ball the should immediately store it inside their helmet or pass it to a team mate. All these 4 groups of 4 players add up to 16 and out of these 16 players the Coach is only allowed to pick 8 players to start in a match.
In HeadBall their is no limit to the number of substitutes a HeadBall Coach can substitute all the players in the match but only the players who have been eliminated are not allowed to take part in substitution.
The HeadBall Jerseys contain letters instead of numbers like other sports. The letters on each jersey represent the position a player is playing for, example T represent a Taker in a team and letter S represent a scorer in a team.
A HeadBall match lasts for a hour, the time is divided into 2 halves the 1st half lasts for 30 minutes and the second half also last for 30 minutes with a 10 minute interval as half time break.
HeadBall like any other sport has a referee and 2 lines men found inside the field of play the linesmen will have 2 flags on their hands a red flag and a white. The linesmen will wave a red flag to the referee when they discover a player entering the court to make a score without passing through an entering spot and that particular player will recieve a booking and the white flag is waved when a player is seen clearly passing through an entering spot when making a score.
If a HeadBall match ends with a draw then the teams proceeds to penalty shootouts. A penalty is performed by the penalty taker storing the ball inside his helmet runs from a far distance and release the ball right before the penalty line found inside the court without stepping or crossing over the penalty line. This penalty process will be monitored by the linesmen as they wave their flags. If a Scorer scores a penalty it will be recored as 3 points instead of 1 one point like the other players.
Help Required
All types of support are invited as Amat Ndure is forming the World Head Ball Invention Association (WHEBIA). WHEBIA will work with international partners to form the Head Ball sports effectively. For more information like our Facebook page called Head Ball and also contact Amat Ndure on Facebook or email Amat Ndure on [email protected].
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Related Pages
- See also H.A.V. Football (Soccer) — HAV stands for headers and volleys soccer.
- Headis — an actual sport combining table tennis and soccer, players use their heads to hit a soccer ball across the table tennis table and net.
- Other new sports
- Complete list of unusual sports
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