Kin-Ball

The black team is about to strike the ball.

Kin-Ball, is a team sport created in Quebec, Canada in 1986 by Mario Demers, a physical education professor, in which the main distinctive characteristics are the big size of the ball (1.22 meters in diameter) and that the matches are played among three teams at the same time instead of traditional one-vs-one like the most of the team games. The International Kin-Ball Federation counts 3.8 million participants, primarily from Canada, the U.S., Japan, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Malaysia.

Game

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Kin-Ball game

The Kin-Ball itself has a diameter of 1.22 meters (48 inches) and weighs about 1 kilogram (2 pounds). The court is 20×20 meters (66×66 feet) in size. The line is part of the court.

There are 3 teams playing each game. Every team consists of 4 players. Each team also has an assigned color for the game. The official colors are black, gray and blue. Sometimes pink instead of blue is used.

To make a play the attacking team, which is the one currently being in possession of the ball, has to designate a defending team by announcing a color. The designation has to start with the word "Omnikin" followed by the color of another team. After the designation the ball has to be hit with a body part above the hips, while all other members of the attacking team touch the ball in some way.

If the defending team is able to control the ball successfully, it becomes the attacker.

A Kin-Ball Game is usually played until one team has won three periods. Each period takes about 10 minutes to play. When the first team reaches 11 points in a period, the team with the fewest points has to leave the court and the remaining two teams play until one team reaches 13 points.

A player can commit a series of fouls during the match:

1. Not being able to catch the ball before it touches the ground
2. Hitting the ball out of bounds or stepping out of bounds while touching the ball
3. Walking with the ball after the third player touches the ball during a play
4. Hitting the ball in a way, that it only has a downward trajectory
5. Hitting the ball less than 1.8 meters (60 inches)
6. Not all players of a team being in contact with the ball
7. Making a mistake during the color announcement (wrong color, more than one player talking, etc.)
8. Having more than 1 player within 1.8 meters during the hit (close defense)
9. Intentionally interfering with defending player

Whenever a team commits a fault, the other two teams receive a point each. This also makes sure, that teams of a lower skill level are kept in the play, as long as they don't make to many mistakes of their own in a row.

International competitions

The first World Cup was held in Québec, Canada in 2001. Since 2005, it has been held every two years for both female and male national teams.

Men

Year	City	Gold Medal	Silver Medal	Bronze Medal
2001	Québec	Canada	Japan	Belgium
2002	Québec	Canada	Japan	France
2005	Ans	Canada	Japan	France
2007	Bilbao	Canada	Japan	France
2009	Trois-Rivières	Canada	Belgium	Japan
2011	Nantes	Canada	Japan	France
2013	Pepinster	Canada	Japan	Belgium
2015	Torrejón de Ardoz	Japan	France	Czech Republic
2017	Tokyo	Canada	Japan	Czech Republic

Women

Year	City	Gold Medal	Silver Medal	Bronze Medal
2001	Québec	Canada	Japan	Belgium
2002	Québec	Canada	Japan	France
2005	Ans	Canada	Japan	France
2007	Bilbao	Canada	Japan	France
2009	Trois-Rivières	Canada	France	Japan
2011	Nantes	Canada	Japan	Switzerland
2013	Pepinster	Canada	Japan	Belgium
2015	Torrejón de Ardoz	Canada	Japan	France
2017	Tokyo	Canada	Japan	France

External links

• International Kin-Ball Federation
• USA KIN-BALL Sport Web Site
• Al Mayrit (Spanish Kin-Ball Team)