Soccer By Any Other Name?
Soccer is a beautiful sport. It has been dubbed “the beautiful game” and for good reason. The sheer athleticism demonstrated by Ronaldinho is, indeed, poetry in motion.
But soccer is not the only sport in which players use their feet in beautiful and incredibly skillful ways. Two other sports, Sepak Takraw and Kemari, take the skill of juggling to new heights. Recent posts on The Offside and The Global Game have discussed Separk Takraw, which is essentially soccer volleyball (don’t miss the video on The Offside site).
Kemari is a much more refined and ceremonial form of juggling. Essentially hacky sack in ceremonial robes, it is unique in that there are no winners and losers. According to Wikipedia, the “object of Kemari is to keep one ball in the air, with all players cooperating to do so.” How very Japanese.
