Ralph Jawarski, age 12, of Galveston, Texas, for his question:
WHEN WAS JAI ALAI FIRST PLAYED?
Jai alai is a ball game of Basque origin. Here's how you pronounce the name: high a lie. The game originated in Spain and came to North America in the 1890s.
Pelota is the generic name of a number of handball games, played by amateurs and professions alike, and probably ultimately derives from the original form of tennis. Pelota vasca, which in Spanish means "Basque ball," developed a form that was very popular with spectators called cesta punta, or "pointed basket." It was this form that was imported into Cuba late in the last century and there it became know by the Basque name of jai alai.
The other forms of pelota include pelota mano (handball), pelota pala which is played by women with rackets similar to large table tennis paddles, and several forms in which the ball is batted from a heavy, stiff cesta, or basket.
When jai alai was introduced into Latin America, it became a national pasttime in many countries. It spread to the United States in the early 20th century and is now played professionally mainly in Florida, Nevada and Connecticut.
Jai alai is played by opposing individuals or teams who alternately bounce a small, hard bail against one, two or three walls and catch it upon its return. It is a type of handball and one of the fastest of all games. It requires great agility and coordination.
The object of the game is to amass a given number of points by forcing the opponent to miss the ball or to hit it out of bounds. The ball, or pelota, is caught and propelled with a glovelike, scoop shaped wicker basket, the cesta, which is strapped to the player's wrist.
Jai alai matches are usually played in a large auditorium known as a fronton. The court on which the game is played is called a cancha.
The cancha is rectangular in shape with walls about 40 feet high. Although the court can vary in size, it is usually about 55 feet wide and 160 to 200 feet in length.
The jai alai ball is made of a core of strands of hard rubber wound under tension, covered with an inner layer of linen thread and two outer layers of goat skin. About two inches in diameter and weighing about 4.5 ounces, the pelota is approximately three quarters the size of a baseball and much harder.
During the fast rallies the ball travels at speeds exceeding 150 miles per hour. Because of this, professional players wear protective helmets.
Cestas, constructed of reeds woven over a frame of chestnut, are custom made to player specifications. They vary somewhat in size and usually are about 24 inches long.
The number of points required to win a jai alai game varies according to local custom and the number of participants. Single matches are usually played to 30 points and doubles to 40 points.
A game of jai alai commences as one server in a continuous motion bounces the pelota on the surface of the court, catches it in the cesta and then hurls it forcibly against the front wall. The receiver may try to return the ball after it has bounced once or before it reaches a playing surface.