School Handball
It was around year/grade four or seven that I first played such a wonderful sport/lunchtime activity at school, the same school that my cousin and best friend Shane also attended.
I joined him and his friends, or my own friends, nearly everyday to partake in the fun and laughter that was had, while being extremely competitive to get to the spot of King.
The game
You have four squares all joined together with each having a name of king, queen, jack, and dunce. Each person is trying to knock somebody else down a square and towards that position of dunce (or the king tries to knock the queen to jack if they are the bigger threat). When there were many more players wanting to join did four more squares get added in which I do not remember the square names, but we always remembered positions for the next time we played.
Strategy was common, you could trick a person into thinking you were going for someone else, then suddenly did a flip shot to divert the ball elsewhere, or the low shots to provide a harder, challenging shot someone needed to attempt.
Home handball
The house I lived in for year 7 had a nice outdoor paved area, perfect for a two man handball match when Shane stayed over. Any decent sized paved/concrete area you have at home can be setup for handball and I would highly suggest it, especially if you have kids, friends who would enjoy it, or for general exercise too (can solo it against a wall).
My memories
One clear memory was when I introduced the flip and low & close shots, that is when the fun began and oh how cruel it would sometimes be! I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to be king. 😊
Eventually after years of not being able to play with anyone would I find a group of year 9s while I was in year 12 and final year of school. I played many lunchtimes with them and once again would I introduce the flip and low & close shots, teaching them well but also having them a little nervous to face me. They would get much better and be able to beat me at times but overall I really enjoyed it.