User:Borishdavid/sandbox

Boardball is a team sport that blends elements of volleyball and Roundnet into one sport. Two teams are involved, most commonly with two players per team. The primary objective is to hit the ball against a board to the other team. Boardball is played with a regular-sized volleyball, which allows players to bump, set, and spike like they would if playing regular volleyball.

The sport originated in Canada and was conceptualized by Amanda Nguyen in 2019, who also founded Boardball Inc, a Canadian sports equipment company that specializes in producing equipment related to the sport of Boardball. The sport of Boardball was originally designed to lower the barriers to playing volleyball. Instead of requiring a full-size court, a volleyball net, a ball, and 12 players, Boardball can be played with only a ball, a board, and four players, although there are variations where only two players are needed.

Summary
Play is essentially carried out as follows: Before serving, each player must be standing 8ft away from 1 of the 4 corners of the board (i.e. 4 corners, 1 player per corner). A player on one of the teams initiates a rally by serving the ball diagonally from one side of the board to the other. Once the ball hits the black surface of the board, it is in the possession of the receiving team. The receiving team must not let the ball touch the ground – if they do, they lose the point. There are no “sides”, so players from either team can move anywhere around the board. The receiving team will have 3 touches to return the ball back onto the black surface of the board, where it changes to the possession of the other team.

If the ball hits the slanted red edge of the board it is considered a “Red Ball”, meaning the count of touches resets for the team that last hit the ball, and they get up to 3 more touches to return the ball back onto the black surface. For example, if the attacking team is on their 3rd touch, but they hit the ball against the red edge, then they will have up to three more touches to hit the ball back on the black surface to the other team. The ball is usually played with the hands or arms (to bump, set, and spike), although players can use any part of their body to keep the ball in play, so long as players do not lift or carry the ball.

Equipment
The equipment needed to play Boardball include: one volleyball, and one Boardball board that has slanted edges.

Teams & Positions
Two teams play against each other, with two players per team. To start the game, partners must be positioned on the same side of the board, facing the opposing players, with the board in between the teams. Players should stand a distance of 8ft away from the board. Once the ball is in play, there are no “sides”, so players are free to move 360 degrees around the board throughout the rally. However, players may not screen, block, get in the way, or interfere with the opponents when the ball is in their possession.



Service
A coin is tossed to determine which team starts serving. The player on the right-hand side of the serving team serves first, switching positions with their partner after every successful point received. The ball must be tossed into the air before serving (i.e. the ball cannot be hit straight out of the other hand of the server) to the player diagonal from the server. For the serve to be successful, the ball must hit the black, flat surface of the board, otherwise known as a “Black Ball”.

On a serve, if the ball hits the red, slanted edge of board, it is considered a “fault”, at which point the server gets to re-serve the ball one time. Like in tennis, the server only gets one fault. If the server misses again, then the opposing team gets the point. The winning team will continue to serve until they have lost possession. The serve must be receivable without the receiving player having to jump for the ball. If the serve is too high (i.e. the receiving player must jump to touch the ball or the ball is out of reach), then the serve does not count and is considered a fault. Additionally, the serve must land at least one foot away from the board to be considered receivable.

Gameplay
Off a serve, the receiving player must pass to their partner before bouncing the ball back to the opposing team. Once the ball has been returned from a serve, players no longer need to pass to their partner first before bouncing the ball back (i.e. players can bounce the ball right back to the opposing team). Like in regular volleyball, teams get a maximum of 3 collective touches before the ball must be bounced back to the opposing team, unless they hit a “Red Ball”.

Using a combination of bumps (using forearms to pass the ball), volleys/sets (pushing the ball upwards by forming a triangle-like shape with a players thumbs and fingers), and spikes (open handed hits) are allowed. Players can use any other part of their bodies as well, so long as the ball is not lifted or carried (i.e. the ball cannot pause in your hand, and cannot be caught or thrown in any way).

“Black Ball” vs “Red Ball”
If the ball hits the black, flat surface of the board at any point during the rally, it is a “Black Ball” and is considered a clean hit from one team to the other team. As soon as the ball hits the black surface, the possession is changed from one team to the other, just like how a ball changes possession after it goes over the net in regular volleyball.

If the ball hits the slanted red edge of the board at any point during the rally, it is considered a “Red Ball”. Similar to a blocked shot in regular volleyball, this means that the number of touches resets for the team that last hit the ball, and this team has up to 3 more touches to return the ball successfully. When a red ball occurs, the ball is still in the possession of the attacking team (i.e. the defending team cannot touch the ball until it is returned to them). There is no limit to the number of red balls that can occur during a rally. Importantly, for the ball to be considered a red ball, it must be redirected from the slanted red edge.

Scoring
Games are played to 21. Teams must win by at least 2 points. There is no cap on a win-by-two scenario. A team can gain a point through one of these scenarios:
 * The ball hits the ground during the opposing team’s possession
 * The opposing team lifts, carries, or grabs the ball
 * The opposing team bounces the ball on the board 2 or more times consecutively when trying to return the ball.
 * The opposing team touches the ball more than 3 times before returning the ball (without any resets with Red Balls)
 * A player on the opposing team touches the ball more than once consecutively (without any resets with Red Balls). This is considered a “double touch”
 * A player on the opposing team touches the board with her/his body.
 * The opposing team interferes with the play during the attacking team’s possession (e.g. someone blocking another player from retrieving the ball)
 * The opposing team hits the ball against the ceiling (for Indoor Play)

Blocks
Players may “block” a shot from the opposing team by standing close to the board and using their forearms to deflect the ball. Like a regular hit, a successful block must hit the black surface before it is returned to the other team.

Alternative playing
When playing Boardball indoors, players may bounce the ball off the walls in order to pass the ball to their partners or return the ball back onto the board. When the ball bounces off the walls, it does not take away from the number of touches that a team has. However, players cannot pass the ball to themselves off the wall - if they do, it is counted as a double touch, and the opposing team wins the point. The ball cannot touch the ceiling, if it does, the team in possession of the ball loses the point.