User:Dharns/Tennyball

Tennyball was created on September 10, 2011 on the tennis courts next to Lake Michigan at Camp Arcadia, in Arcadia, Michigan by 6 attendees of the Lutheran Laymen League's annual men's retreat. Tennyball is a mix between tennis and volleyball, with its own minimal set of rules.



Rules
As witnessed in Arcadia, Michigan, teams consist of 3 players on each side of the net, each of whom must carry a tennis racket and who must rotate serves (as occurs in volleyball) with every side out that their team earns. Points are tallied on a rally point basis, with points available on every serve, like volleyball. The first team to 25 points wins the match, but the winning team must win by 2. There is no time limit in Tennyball.

The most important rule in Tennyball is that there are no rules near the net. You may reach over the net, you may spike the serve, and you may hit the ball on your opponent's side if it is accessible from your side of the court. Collisions are acceptable. The only penalty in Tennyball occurs if a player hits another player's body with his or her racket in a painful manner. If a foul occurs, the player committing the foul must sit on his or her racket for the 3 next consecutive points anywhere inside his or her team's doubles alley.

As in tennis, the lines that delineate the width of the court are called the baseline (farthest back) and the service line (middle of the court). The outermost lines that make up the length are called the doubles sidelines. The lines to the inside of the doubles sidelines are the singles sidelines. The area between a doubles sideline and the nearest singles sideline is called the doubles alley. The line that runs across the center of a player's side of the court is called the service line.

The initial serve must begin behind the baseline, must be tossed into the air and hit before it hits the ground. It must land inside the other team's court and must avoid the doubles alley.

Scoring
To score a point, a team must make the tennis ball bounce three times, with the first bounce occurring within the other team's court. It does not matter where the 2nd and 3rd bounces occur. If the ball stops on the ground or is rolling across the ground, it is considered to have bounced 3 times. The 3 bounce-rule resets every time the opposing team hits the ball, wherever that hit may occur. If a ball hits a player's body, it is not considered a hit. It is perfectly acceptable to play a ball if it hits a fence or a bench or a spectator or anything outside of the regulation court area.

Each team has an unlimited number of hits to return the tennis ball to the other side of the court but each player may only hit the ball one time before it either hits the ground or is hit by another player. The only exception to this rule is if the player is behind the service line on his or her side of the court - this player may hit the ball twice without penalty. There is no rule compelling any player to stay within the court or within the fences or even within eyesight. Players may go anywhere with one exception: the only time you may be in your opponent's court is if you have jumped the net and are trying to chase down an errant shot before your team's third bounce occurs. The opposing team is in no way required to offer you free access to the bouncing ball but they may not hit you with a racket.

The tennis ball is not required to cross over the top of the net as is usual in volleyball or tennis. It must only land in the opposing team's court in whatever manner is considered ideal by the attacking team.

Rule Changes
Official TennyBowl rules may only be changed by the agreement of 4 of the original 6 creators.

Tennybowl
A TennyBowl occurs when two teams agree to play a best-of-seven series of Tennyball.

TennyBowl-1 occurred on September 10, 2011 and was won by a score of 4 games to 3 games by Graham Spelled Backwards. The losing team was RAMROD. TennyBowl-1 began around 11am and was interrupted several times during the day by various camp activities, ending at 9pm.