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PILOTA - BASQUE HANDBALL
It is said that the majority
of a Basque person's life is spent between the handball
court and the church. By design the typical Basque village
is centered in its devotion to God and to the game it
enjoys above all games. However the sport of pilota was
not born in the Eskual Herria. Derived from the ancestral
game of tennis, jeu de paume was very much in vogue in
France's early history. The game is thought to have been
adopted by the Basques soon after the marriage of Louis
XIV in St. Jean de Luz. Before 1850, lasoa was played
with teams facing each other using a wool ball wrapped
in leather. The ball's construction didn't allow for much
of a bounce and most of the game was played without letting
the ball touch the court.
Was this perhaps the game that was played by the famous
Perkain in 1793? Although this legendary player had been
sentenced to death by a revolutionary tribunal he had
the audacity to cross the border in response to a challenge
by his rival Curutchet in Aldude. Having been informed
of the game, the police showed up for the match. A large
crowd had gathered so the police didn't dare interrupt
the game. As told in an old song, on his last shot Perkain
changed his aim and hit the chief of police in the head
with the ball. In the excitement of the moment he slips
away from the authoritiesand flees to Spain.
Around 1850 a rubber core was added to the center of the
ball which develops the game further to be played on Fronton
(single wall) and mur à gauche (left wall). In
1857 a young man from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, named
Jean Dithurbide (aka Gainchiki) uses a modified fruit
basket attached to the players hand to put the ball into
play. The chistera is born and enables the game to be
played with great speed and precision.
Today there are several variations of the game, some played
with the bare hand and others being played with special
handheld objects. The old game, bota luze, which was practiced
in the sorhopil on high flat grassy plateaus has been
replaced with the games now played on the frontons or
the trinquets or other courts. Due to the influence of
tourism, the urbanization and changes in Basque lifestyle,
the games played with special objects, like joko garbi,
chistera, sare or argentinian racket, pala, paleta, cesta
punta, and rebota, have gained much fame. One such game,
Jai Alai, has become internationally famous as a fast
and enjoyable spectator sport as well as an opportunity
to wager on the outcome.
Many a young player has often dreamed of making a small
fortune like the legendary Joseph Apestegui better know
as Chiquito de Cambo.
Story about Handball
in Bakersfield |
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2002,
Pierre Igoa