American handball
Games in which a ball is hit or thrown have been referenced as far back as Homer and ancient Egypt.
A game similar to handball was played by Northern and Central Americans from 1500 BC,[1] most famously by the Aztecs as the Mesoamerican ballgame.
[5] In Treacherous Beauty, by Mark Jacob and Stephen H. Case, about the Arnold-Andre conspiracy, Major John Andre and General Sir Henry Clinton are said to have played a game called handball during the American Revolution.
The earliest record of the modern game in the United States mentions two handball courts in San Francisco in 1873.
By the early 1900s, four-wall handball was well established and a one-wall game was developed in New York City by beach-goers who hit bald tennis balls with their hands against the sides of the wooden jetties that lined beaches.
[6] American handball is seen predominantly in parks, beaches, and high school yards in New York, Chicago and other large urban areas.
These championships were organized by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) until 1950, when their control was transferred to the newly formed United States Handball Association (USHA).
[7] The sports of racquetball, squash, fives, four-wall and one-wall paddleball were heavily influenced by handball.
Four-wall paddleball was invented in 1930 by Earl Riskey, a physical-education instructor at the University of Michigan, when he came up with the idea of using paddles to play on the school's handball courts.
Racquetball was invented in 1949 by Joe Sobek in Greenwich, Connecticut, when he played handball using a strung racquet.
The back wall of the court is usually 12 feet (3.7 m) high, with an above gallery for the referee, scorekeeper and spectators.
The server begins by dropping the ball to the floor of the service zone and striking it, after one bounce, with the hand or fist so that it hits the front wall.
In doubles, the server's teammate has to stand in the service area with their back to a side wall in a service box, marked by a parallel line 18 inches (46 cm) from the side wall, until the ball passes the short line.
If the receiver fails to make the return, a point goes to the server, who continues to serve until "put out."
The main difference between one-wall handball and other versions is that the ball must always be played off the front wall.
In New York City alone, an estimated 2,299 public handball courts occupy the five boroughs.
Eye protection is required in tournament handball, as the ball moves at high speeds and in close proximity to the players.
The black or blue rubber ball weighs 2.3 ounces (65 g) and is 1.875 inches (4.76 cm) in diameter (smaller, heavier, and more dense than a racquetball), is hit with a gloved hand (open palm, fingers, fist, back of hand) (informal games often do not include gloves).
