Checkball

Checkball is a sport played individually against a single opponent (singles), or between two teams of two (doubles) or three (triples) with the opponents separated by a net. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opposing team is not able to continue a "rally." Checkball is played with one standard 10" kickball on a regulation size tennis court. As the sport was only created in 2005, the official rules are firm but still evolving. Checkball incorporates elements of tennis, ping pong, volleyball, and foursquare into its ruleset.
The most common version of Checkball played is two three-person teams. Play begins with a volley-for-serve situation, as opposed to a coin toss or face-off as in other sports. After serve control is determined, a team member begins a rally by serving the ball from behind the horizontal midline of the court, bouncing once on the serving side and traveling over the net. The rally continues with each player per team allowed only one "hit" and subsequently a ground "bounce" between each hit(referred to as the "count," an unofficial term for the number of hits and bounces a team has before the ball must be moved over the net) until a team makes a fault, losing the rally. Only the team in control of the serve can score points.
The most common faults are:
* Catching or carrying the ball
* Performing a "double hit" in which a single player hits the ball twice consecutively
* The ball bounces twice consecutively without any player touching it
* Hitting the ball under the net
* Hitting the ball over the net but landing it in the opponents out of bounds
The game is typically played using the hands, arms, and feet, though a player can use any part of his or her body to strike the ball. Also, only when the ball contacts a player or the ground is it considered added to the "count." This means that the ball can be legally played off of walls, fences, the net, and net posts without penalty.
History
Creation
In the summer of 2005, in Racine, Wisconsin(USA), Christopher Schatzman, Travis Reeser, Chris Carter, and Eric Mulder created a new game called Checkball. Checkball was born out of the necessity, when plans to play a normal game of Kickball fell through due to a lack of players. Only the aforementioned quartet showed, and in the resulting discussion the decision was made to play Foursquare instead. Once again, these plans failed as no readily available Foursquare lines were nearby. This led to the decision to try playing on a tennis court, and from there Checkball morphed into existence. The very first game of Checkball was played on the Lockwood court in Racine.
Growth of the Sport
Realizing the potential of the newly created game, more and more people were naturally introduced to it by the creators within the first year. The following year, the sport was spread to nearby Kenosha, Wisconsin. The sport truly picked up steam at this point, and has grown every year since. The exact number is unconfirmed, but a conservative estimate is between 50 and 75 players worldwide.
Manner of Play
Court
Checkball is played on a regulation tennis court with nets in place. Triples games use the entire court, whereas singles and doubles play is confined to the adjacent inner boxes. As the sport is still in its infancy and utilizes an already existing location for play, conditions are not always consistent. Net manipulation is common in Checkball, so gameplay is affected to a degree when the net is secured to the ground as opposed to hanging free.
The Ball
Checkball, as a game of innovation brought on by necessity, uses an already established standard to maintain ease of play. A 10" WAKA Kickball is the sport standard. It is recommended that the ball be inflated to optimal PSI for the proper amount of bounce when struck. An over inflated ball will become misshapen; an under inflated ball will not travel appropriate distances.
Team Formations
In a triples game, there are multiple configurations in which a team may choose to employ. The most common is a 2-1 formation, in which two players remain posted at the net and one player at the baseline. This formation allows for strong net play, a key component to successful play. The baseline player is typically someone with excellent speed or situational awareness, which allows for the return of most serves and sets up possible spikes.
Serving
Players must begin their serve behind the tennis service line (the parallel line halfway between the net and baseline of the court) and may not step across this boundary during serve. The ball must bounce exactly once after leaving the server's possession but before crossing over the net. Unlike tennis, there is no requirement to serve to any particular area of the opponent's side.
Serving Types
As the game developed, various serving methods have taken shape. A Standard Serve is typically a two handed, overhead slam that allows the ball to travel over the heads of the front defenders.
A variation of the standard serve is known as the Drop Serve. Characterized by its slow speed and narrow net clearance, this type of serve is used to take advantage of poorly positioned or distracted defending players. The goal is to score by causing a double bounce by aiming at the boundary lines, or placing it between defenders that cannot react in time.
Another serving style is the Sidearm Serve. A low height, high velocity serve that is often aimed at the space between defenders.
A Hammer Serve is a variation of the standard serve. The serving player will smash the ball against the ground with a powerful overhand swing, forcing it deep into the opponents court. Because of the height achieved from the smash, balls served in the manner can often go over the heads of rear row players not prepared for the high bounces.
Finally, the most difficult but most effective serve is the Kick Serve. Performing the kick serve effectively means a high speed serve, with unpredictable direction and bounce height. It will often lend itself to net faults and net smashes however, so it must be used with caution.
Serving Faults
In checkball, players serve behind the tennis service line (line in center of each side parallel to the baseline). When serving, there is no requirement to serve to the kitty-corner serving box. One must make contact with the ball, making the ball contact the ground on your side, causing it to go over the net without touching the net, and finally making it land in-bounds on the other side. Landing a serve out-of-bounds results in giving up the serve. A server is allowed one fault; upon the second fault the serve is given up. There are four types of faults: one, is a net fault when a ball hits the net on the serve; two, is the foot fault when a server's foot lands on the serving line before they release the ball; three, is a fault resulting from the ball hitting a teammate; four, is the second bounce fault when the ball bounces more than once on your side.
Hits
Once the ball cleanly goes over the net, the ball can bounce once before the first person, once in between each person, and once after the final hit before it is returned to the other side. This is informally known as the "count". Each player has only one hit while the ball is on their side. The ball does not have to remain inbounds while teammates are hitting it. Only the final hit has to land inbounds on the other side (after one bounce if needed.) The ball cannot go under the net. Hits consist of any part of body (i.e. hands, feet, body, head, etc.) Holding, catching, or carrying the ball is not allowed.
Using the Net
Once the ball cleanly goes over the net, any player can manipulate the net in either on offensive or defensive manner to the extent of the current arena.
Dribbling
A player can dribble the ball by reaching over to the opposing team's court. This can be done at any time, including rushing the serve, given the offensive player doesn't touch the net. Each time an opposing player touches the ball on his opponents half of the court the "count" resets, so the opposing team has a chance to use their set of hits after the each bounce.
Crossing to the other side
The net creates a horizontal plane that goes beyond the physical boundaries of the net on the edges. A player cannot step on the other side. A player may jump from their side in an attempt to hit the ball before they hit ground on the other side. Such a hit needs only to land inbounds on the other side.
Playing the man
After the ball has crossed the net for the serve, players can grab or push opposing players, without being too physical.
Simultaneous Hits
When two players hit the ball at the same time, the ball is considered hit last by the player which the ball travels towards the opposing side.
Game Variations
Singles
Though attempts had been made in the past to formalize rules for this variation, the summer of 2014 brought the most progress. Singles is a one-vs-one variation playing using only the four serving boxes. Three key differences from normal play are the serve, the number of hits, and the scoring. When serving, the ball must land in the serving box kitty corner to the box being served from (as in tennis rules). Where the ball initially bounces on the server's side is irrelevant as long as it lands in the correct location. In singles checkballers are allowed two hits: once from the belly and above, and once from hips and below, not two from either region. Normal bounce rules apply, so the maximum number of bounces is three (coming over net to bounce, hit one, bounce, hit two, bounce, going over net). Lastly, another change is in the scoring. Singles is played in a set of five 5-point games, in which players must win by two in each game to win it, and win the best of three games to win the set.

"Kenosha Rules"
Since Kenosha checkballers played with the founding four members so much, many of the rules are still consistent. One exception is the net. In many of the Kenosha checkball arenas, the nets are not attached to the ground. This gives a defensive advantage. Players are not allowed to adjust the net to become detached, but play with whichever net situation exists.

A-B-A
This game type is not universally accepted and not endorsed by the founding members. This game type was developed and embraced by a group of checkballers in Racine, WI. They incorrectly interpreted the rules for hits on one side making it more parallel to volleyball and for hitting the net on the serve making it more like tennis. In A-B-A, for hits, instead of having only one hit per player per side, players are allowed a second hit, as long as they follow this format: person A, then person B, then person A again; hence, A-B-A. Upon serving, A-B-A format allows the server to hit the net on the serve unlimited times, each being a "let", which results in a re-serve and does not result in a fault.

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