Picigin
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Picigin (pronounced "pih-tsih-gheen") is a popular game played on beaches in Croatia. Its origins are in Split, a town in Dalmatia, where Picigin evolved from a game of waterpolo, first played in 1908 by a group of students. The game involves several players passing around a small ball and keeping it in the air and out of the water for as long as possible.
As such, the game somewhat resembles volleyball but it is played with a much smaller ball, usually a peeled tennis ball. There are usually five players and much running and diving in the shallow water.
Picigin is a non-competitive game: there are no opposing sides, no points, neither winners nor losers.
The most fanatical players believe it to be impossible to play picigin anywhere but on the sandy beach called Bačvice (pronounced "batch-vih-tseh") in the historic city centre of Split, Croatia. There is also a widely distributed belief that the only proper garment to wear while playing Picigin is a tight speedo, "mudantine" (roughly translated "ball-sack") in Croatian. Many players also exclude women from the professional play.
There is a tradition of playing picigin on New Year's Day, regardless of weather conditions, and when the sea temperature is rarely above 10°C.
Some of the best known players from Split are writer Đermano Senjanović[citation needed], music professor Josip Veršić[citation needed], Vili Jakovčević,[citation needed] theatre critic Anatolij Kudrjavcev[citation needed] and retired shipyard worker Roko Vrandečić[citation needed].
