When most people hear the word "spinoff," they think of a TVseries — such as "Frasier," "Mork & Mindy" and "CSI:Miami" — that had its foundation set in another series.
Spinoffs are not limited to television. When I hear spinoff, Ithink Tchoukball.
OK, that's a lie.
But Tchoukball is a true spinoff sport. It takes the idea fromone sport and adds a few things of its own to make it moreinteresting.
Hermann Brandt, a Swiss biologist who wanted to promote worldpeace, invented Tchoukball. What did Brandt do to promote worldpeace? He invented a sport. Well, he significantly modified thegame of handball.
Tchoukball is played on a court or field twenty meters wide andforty meters long with two teams of nine players (it can be playedwith 7 informally). On each side of the court there is smallrebound net.
A rebound net is simply a trampoline turned on its side (at a55-degree angle) that one throws a tchoukball into. The name of thesport comes from the sound the rebound net makes when the ball isflung back into the playing field.
Imagine if this guy had named baseball. We'd be watching theCrackball World Series. Now that sounds like Fox programming.
The goal of Tchoukball is to throw the ball into the net so anopponent cannot catch the ball before it hits the ground — aslong as he hits the target, the ball doesn't leave the playingfield or the ball doesn't rebound to the shooter.
When a player has the ball, that player can only take threesteps and then must pass the ball. He cannot hold the ball for morethan three seconds. The team has three passes to get the ball intogood scoring position. The passes must be unguarded because of thepeaceful nature of the game.
Tchoukball does have one advantage over other sports, rougenations and the ongoing war in Iraq. Tchoukball carries the U.N.Seal of Approval.
According to a letter from the United Nations, Tchoukball"should help to better convey throughout the world messages ofuniversal peace which transcend the athletic aspect of thesport."
Tchoukball is popular in some other countries, but it isvirtually unheard of in the United States.
So does Tchoukball promote world peace? It is a nonviolent game;contact between players and even guarding are forbidden.
But somehow I can't see John Lennon singing "Imagine all thepeople playing Tchoukball."
Write to Will at wjohargan@bsu.edu
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