totem tennis
A game similar to tetherball is swingball (also called Totem tennis). It uses a smaller, softer ball that the players strike with raquets. It is more popular in the United kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and south africa . In these countries, tetherball is virtually unknown.
Swingball has a shorter pole (about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in height). It is portable, and the ball flies around the pole at a constant distance (also about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft)) on a helical screw. The game ends when the ball reaches the top or bottom of the screw. Generally the ball used for these games is either a tennis ball, or a softer, sponge-rubber ball. The racquets are usually the size of tennis racquets, but are constructed of hard plastic . The game is played informally, usually with the pole being driven into a lawn or other grassy area,
totem tennis ……totem pole
‘Although made before the arrival of Europeans (late 1700s), totem poles became increasingly popular during the 1800s. The fur trade had made people wealthy, and encouraged greater displays of privilege and rank’
martina navratilova plays swingball HERE
February 24th, 2010 at 10:25 am
there’s something about having all that room to move (or swing) while being connected or fixed to something.
interesting you came up with this, i remember playing this in Zimbabwe as a child; though we never had a pole, just the soft spongy ball and two hard plastic raquets. you will notice that in most of the colonies, sports that were popular in the UK such as rugby, cricket and tennis are very popular there as well. same as the cloth was taken to these places so were other aspects of culture