FISTBALL
As its name implies, in this sport the ball can only be hit with a closed fist or arm. Similar to volleyball, it is played by two teams of five members each on a grass or wooden court, and players hit the ball three times before passing it to the other side of the net. Fistball was born in Ancient Rome, around 300 BC, when it was played with a ball made of leather and an animal's bladder filled with air. Its modern form, as well as its rules, emerged in Germany in 1895 and arrived in Brazil with immigrants from that country. Fistball is internationally known as faustball, as the word faust, in German, means "fist"
SEPAKTAKRAW
Born in Southeast Asia five hundred years ago, it combines a kind of footvolley with martial arts. The three players on each team can take up to three hits using all parts of the body, except the hands and arms, to pass the ball to the other side of the net – that's where flyaways and other fantastic strokes come in. The ball was originally made of bamboo and is now made of synthetic material. Normally, sepaktakraw is played on a court similar to volleyball, but in Brazil it is also played on sand. There are about two hundred practitioners in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Paraná and Pernambuco. Sepaktakraw is derived from an ancient Malaysian game called Sepak (meaning kick) Raga (ratball, a kind of bamboo).
TCHOUKBALL
It is played like handball: the nine athletes pass the ball among themselves to the “remission frame”, a goal of just 1m2 covered with an elastic net. When thrown, it bounces on the net and, if the defense players fail to catch it, it's a point for the opponent. The sport was invented by the Swiss doctor Hermann Brandt, in 1970, and the name comes from the noise “tchouk!” what the ball does when it hits the net.
ZORBING
What do you think of going down a ravine inside a plastic ball, at 50 km/h? That's the great thing about the sport. The “zorbonaut” is in a chamber 1.80 meters high inside the sphere, which is 3.2 meters in diameter, surrounded by an air mattress 70 centimeters thick. Fun was created in 2002 by New Zealanders Andrew Akers and Dwane van der Sluis. To keep the zorbonaut's stomach from turning as much as the ball, it only rotates twice every 10 meters.
