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Ball sport where one hits a ball off a wall with their hand against an opponent From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One-wall handball, also known as 1-wall, wallball or international fronton, is an indirect style of a ball game where the player hits a small rubber ball with their hand against a wall. The goal of the game is to score more points than the opponent. The player then hits the ball, and the ball bounces off the wall and the floor within court lines, if the opponent fails to return the ball, the player scores a point. The sport was created to bring together varieties, such as American handball, Basque pelota, Patball, Gaelic handball, Pêl-Law (Welsh handball) and Valencian frontó.[citation needed]
Girls playing 1-walled fronton. | |
| Highest governing body | World Wallball Association (WWBA) [Jointly setup by the World Handball Council, the CIJB and GAA Handball[1]] |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Non-contact |
| Team members | Singles or doubles |
| Mixed-sex | No, separate competitions |
| Type | Outdoor or indoor |
| Equipment | Small, rubber ball (Big ball) or smaller, harder rubber ball (Small ball) |
| Venue | One-wall handball / wallball court (also known as handball alley or simply "court") |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | Worldwide |
| Olympic | Demonstration event at 2013 World Games, Colombia[2] (WWBA goal of inclusion in future World Games and then eventual WWBA goal of achieving Olympic status) |
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International fronton uses the most basic courtfield layout of the indirect style: one wall where the ball must bounce.
This only wall, the fronton, is 6.1 metres (20 ft) wide and 4.9 metres (16 ft) high. From the left and right corners two lines are drawn on the ground, 1.6 metres (5 ft 3 in) long, that mark the place into which the ball may bounce, this is the courtfield.
There must be some free space out the courtfield 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) for the players to play balls that are risking to bounce twice.
At 4.9 metres (16 ft) from the fronton wall there is a line on the ground, the fault line. The serving player must throw the ball before that line, and the ball must surpass it after bouncing on the fronton.
At 10.6 metres (35 ft) from the fronton there is another line on the ground, the back line, which the ball may not bounce from.
In agreement with American handball (and unlike Basque pelota and Valencian frontó) there is no left or back wall, the ball may bounce on the lines, and, specially, there is no line on the fronton for the ball to ball over.
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The One Wall ball / International fronton ball ('big ball') is a synthetic one, without any default colour. According to the GAA Handball 1-Wall playing rules [As of January 2019] (which is in line with United States Handball Association playing rules), the ball used shall be in line with the following:
This ball is also used in the 'Big Ball' grades at the World Handball Championships organised by the World Handball Council. The One wall ball is widely available - manufacturers of the One Wall ball include O'Neills, Decathlon 'Urball' brand, MacSports 'Challenger' brand & Sky Bounce. The 'small ball' (mainly used in 4-Wall American handball/Gaelic handball competitions) is also used in the 'small ball' one-wall/wallball grades at the World Championships.
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Two players (1 against 1) or four players (2 against 2) play to score points until one of them attain two sets (composed by 21 points).
(In case of a tie, 1-1 sets, a third set is played, where the first service is done by the winner of the previous set)
Players strike the ball with the hand so that it bounces on the fronton and falls into the courtfield. Whoever fails to do so commits a fault and so loses a point, then the opponent serves.
A fault is committed if:
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There are several major international competitions held in the sport, in addition to clubs/communities/regional associations across the globe hosting their own local/regional tournaments.
The European 1-Wall Tour is a Wallball circuit around Europe. Six to eight nations host an Open each year, each one inclusive and encouraging with grades for top senior players right through to beginners.
The Handball International Championships are organised by the International Ball game Confederation (CIJB) annually with the country federations that are part of the CIJB represented (Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Uruguay and England).
A World Championships for the sport is also organised by the World Handball Council every three years (with the World Handball Council representing the handball federations of USA (United States Handball Association), Ireland (GAA Handball Ireland), Canada (Canadian Handball Association), Australia, Japan, Puerto Rico and Czech Republic) although players representing countries not formally part of the council are welcome to take part in the council's World Championships. The 2024 World Wallball Championships took place in Ireland from August 18th-23rd at the University of Limerick Sports Arena, with players from 13 different countries taking part.[4] [5]
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