Ball: Encyclopedia - Ball

Ball

A ball is a round object that is used most often in sports and games. Balls are usually hollow and spherical but can be other shapes, such as ovoid (only in a few special cases) or solid (as in billiards) and flat (as in ice hockey). In most games using balls, the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked, or thrown by players. Balls are often used in ball dropping functions such as in the famous Times Square New Year's Eve ceremony.

Balls were used in ancient times by the early Egyptians, the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the Aztecs and earlier Mesoamerican peoples.

Ball - Popular ball games

There are many popular games or sports involving some type of ball or similar object. These games can be grouped by the general objective of the game, sometimes indicating a common origin either of a game itself or of its basic idea:

• Bat-and-ball games, such as cricket and baseball.
• Two-goal games, such as basketball and most forms of football and hockey.
• Volleying games, such as volleyball and tennis.
• "Target" games, such as bowling
• and so on

Popular ball games around the world include:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Billiards (including snooker, eight ball and pool variations)
• Blitzball (fictional game)
• Bocce
• Boules
• Bowling
• Bowls
• Calvinball (see Calvin and Hobbes)
• Canoe polo
• Cricket (see cricket ball)
• Crockey
• Croquet
• Dodgeball
• Football:
  • American football
  • Australian rules football
  • Gaelic Football
  • International Rules Football
  • Soccer
  • Rugby Football
• Footbag
• Four square
• Golf (see golf ball)
• Team handball

• Field hockey
• Ice hockey
• Rink hockey

Categories: Sporting goods | Ball games

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ball", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki