Pilota

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Pilota in Basque and Catalan, pelota in Spanish, or pelote in French (from Latin pila) is a name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat (pala), or a basket propulsor, against a wall (frontón in Spanish, frontoi in Basque, frontó in Catalan) or, more traditionally, with two teams face to face separated by a line on the ground or a net. Their roots can be traced to the Greek and other ancient cultures, but in Europe they all derive from real tennis (see Jeu de Paume). Today, pelota is widely played in several countries: in the Basque Country and their neighbours; in Valencia where it is considered the national sport; and in rural areas of Ireland (Gaelic handball), Belgium, North of Italy, Mexico, Argentina and other American countries.

Recently, some initiatives have organised pelota championships trying to unify the different modalities played all around the world, in order to standardise them into two or three simpler modalities, with fixed ball weights, rules and court sizes. There are, of course, criticisms on this, since the original traits of each particular modality would be lost. The matches between Basque and Valencian teams have always been the most leveled ones, due to the quality and versatility of their players.

1 Basque pilota
2 Valencian pilota
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Basque pilota

Frontoi in Ainhoa (Labourd)

The antiquity of Basque ball-game is uncertain but it seems consolidated in the 19th century. The first official competitions were organized in the 1920s.

[edit] Playing area

Playing paleta at the trinquet of Elizondo (Navarre)

Basque pilota is played in a two walled court (Basque: frontoi, Spanish: frontón).

These courts are often built in villages using a wall of a church or town-hall as frontal one, to which it has been attached another longer wall, with marks for the distance to the frontal one. The lateral wall is always at the left of the frontal one, while the right side is open and the playing area is simply delimited there by a line on the floor.

The back side of the court has typically a wall in closed courts (including professional ones) but it's often open in common rural open-air courts (and, in this case, also delimited by a line on the floor).

There are four standard types of courts:

Very Short court (30m long): used professionally only for frontenis and paleta-rubber variants.
Short court (36m long): used professionally for handball, paleta-leather and short bat variants.
Long court (54m long): used professionally for long bat, remonte and basket variants.
Trinquet (28.5m long): it has a somewhat different shape than the others: with an inclined roof all along the left wall. It allows the variants of handball, paleta-rubber, paleta-leather and xare. It's used almost exclussively in the Northern Basque Country.

[edit] Modalities

Xare

Handball (Basque: esku-pilota, Spanish: pelota a mano): played barehanded (or with minimal protections) and with a traditional ball made of wool around a hard core and covered with leather. The standard ball should weigh 92-95 grams. It is played in the short court either individually (one vs. one) or by couples (two vs. two). Traditionally and professionally it is reserved for men.
Paleta-rubber: played with a short and wide wooden bat, called paleta in both Spanish and Basque, and a rubber ball. Can be played by both men and women.
Paleta-leather: played with a bat similar to the previous one but with a traditional leather ball. In principle, reserved for men.
Short bat: played with somewhat shorter but thicker and much less wide bat (pala in both Basque and Spanish). Uses a rubber ball. In principle, reserved for men.
Long bat: played with a longer bat (pala), again thick and not much wide. Uses also a rubber ball but it is played in the long court. In principle, reserved for men.
Basket: this is the version known in the USA and Macao as Jai Alai. In Basque it's called saski-pilota (literally: basket-ball) and cesta-punta in Spanish. It uses a special glove that extends into a long pointed curved basket (hence the name), no more than 60cm long in straight line nor 110cm by curved line. Rubber ball. The players use it to catch the ball and propel it back against the main court. Again, only for men.
Remonte: a variant of the above. The basket-glove is shorter and it is allowed to retain the ball momentaneously. Men only.
Xare: uses a primitive soft racket. Sare or xare means web in Basque. It is played only in the trinquet court. Men only.
Frontenis: a modern fusion between tennis and Basque ball. It uses tennis materials in a short court. Men and women.

[edit] International projection

Basque pilota has been an exhibition olympic sport in Mexico '68 and Barcelona '92 and could be an exhibition sport in London 2012.

International competitions are dominated by Basques playing in either the Spanish or the French national teams. La Rioja and some places in Castile also have some tradition in this sport. There are also federations of Basque ball in Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Philippines, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Netherlands, India and Greece.

[edit] Betting

Professional games are open to betting on the results, as usual in most traditional Basque competitions.

In the USA and Macao it is mainly this aspect of the competition what has given it some popularity. See: Jai Alai.

[edit] Valencian pilota

"Joc de pilota", painted by Josep Bru i Albinyana. Costumer picture in year 1881.

The most characteristic trait of Valencian pilota is that it is always played with the bare hand (with some minimal protections) and it is not generally played against a wall. Instead, as the ancient Greeks played it and modern tennis is played, two individuals or teams are placed face to face separated by a line on the ground or a net. Another relevant and funny trait of Valencian pilota is that the spectators can be seated in several parts of the playing ground and they frequently suffer from impacts as the match develops.

[edit] Playing area

Depending on the modality Valencian pilota can be played in the streets or in special courts, known as trinquet in Catalan), which are not like Basque trinquetes at all. Valencian trinquets are around 60x10 m four walled courts with stairs on one side for spectators to seat.

There's also a Valencian frontó similar to the Basque one but shorter and with three walls. The result is a faster game with plenty of bounces on the walls.

[edit] Modalities

There are many different modalities, the most frequently played are:

Escala i corda: The more prestigious and, alongside with raspall, the only one with professional players. It's played in a Valencian trinquet where a 1,80 m high net is placed in the middle of the field. The ball must be thrown each other on the net, it can be thrown everywhere but there are some special places, as the galeries or the llotgeta where a direct point is scored. Circuit Bancaixa 06/07, [1]
Raspall: Similar to Escala i corda as it's played in a trinquet, but without any net and the ball may bounce as many times as needed, it's said to be the hardest Valencian pilota modality since players are forced to play stooped many times. as an example, Escala i corda games are won by the team who gets 60 points, but Raspall are played until 25. One-on-one League, [2]
Galotxa: This can be played in the streets or in artificial streets built on purpose, resembles Escala i corda (with two nets) but with many more tricks, since there are plenty of irregular bounces on the streets.
Galotxetes: Only played in three towns of the Vinalopó Mitjà region, similar to Escala i corda but shorter and with a different ball.
Llargues: This modality can only be played in the streets, and with a different ball to any other Valencian sport. It's said to be the oldest one. There is no net or field for each team. Each point is won twice: The first time the ball is stopped a ratlla (line) is marked on the ground, if the second time the ball is stopped it has been thrown over that ratlla the point is won by the sender.

[edit] International projection

There is only one Valencian pilota modality played elsewhere, llargues. That's why pilota players from Valencia, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands (sometimes with teams from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico or Peru) arrange once a year a world-championship where a common llargues modality is played.