A ball is a spherical object that can roll, jump, or bounce off the surface of the earth. People use it for a variety of games. Scientists have not determined exactly where such an object first appeared, but balls made from a variety of materials have been found during excavations in all countries of the world. People loved to play with a ball made from animal skin, tied or twisted from a bunch of leaves. There were fabric and wooden options, woven from reeds or palm branches.
Different types of balls were played in different ways. Some were intended to hit a target or goal, others threw them to each other, pushed them with sticks, and tried to prevent the opponent from being able to catch the given spherical object.
Nowadays, there are cheap children's balls for playing in the yard and inflatable ones for water activities. There are types of balls for sports team games. They have a strict classification and are manufactured at enterprises that use the latest technologies in the production of attributes for games.
In the article we will look at the types of sports balls with photos, what they are made of, what shape they have, and how to play with them. There are professional and expensive balls, but for a beginning athlete you can buy good, but not so expensive analogues. For each sport, unique gaming items are produced.
Thus, a basketball ball differs significantly in appearance, size, and internal structure from a football or handball ball. Let's take a closer look at several types of balls.
Soccer ball
The game of football is that players of one team must carry the ball across the entire field and score it into the opponent's goal. In ancient times, animals' bladders were used for this game, but they quickly burst from strong blows. The leather versions were used for quite a long time, but they absorbed moisture well and became heavy during the game. Now all types of soccer balls are made from synthetics, namely polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride.
The sizes of soccer balls are distinguished by numbers from 1 to 5. The ball numbered 1 is too small, and it is sewn for advertising campaigns. 2 and 3 - sizes that are used for training children's football teams. They have a circumference of 56 cm and 61 cm respectively. Ball number 4 participates in team mini-football tournaments. Its size should be no more than 64 cm and weigh up to 440 grams when dry.
The standard ball for professional football players is ball number 5. The size of such an item is the most popular in the world, its circumference is 68-70 cm, and its weight is 450 grams.
The soccer ball consists of three different layers. The outer one is a synthetic tire made from the materials mentioned above. The next layer is a soft pad consisting of several layers of cotton or polyester. The inner shell is a latex chamber. The quality of the ball affects the best rebound and retention of the object's shape.
Choosing a fitball
This question interests almost all beginners, and this is not surprising: differing in weight and height, they want to choose a projectile that will be as convenient as possible to use and will bring the greatest benefit to the body.
How to choose a fitball by size?
When choosing, you should take your height into account. Ideally, when sitting on top of the ball, your feet resting on the floor should be bent at the knees at a right angle. Based on this parameter, you need to select a ball with the correct diameter. To select the fitball size according to your height, any store will provide you with a table with the appropriate recommendations (it is usually present on the ball label).
Here are the most commonly used ratios:
- people up to 155 cm tall should choose a projectile with a diameter of 45 cm;
- for those with a height between 155-164 cm, it is preferable to buy balls with a diameter of 55 cm;
- with a height of 165-174 cm, a fitball with a diameter of 65 cm would be ideal;
- people with a height of 175-184 cm should use a 75 cm exercise machine;
- For those whose height exceeds 185 cm, balls with a diameter of 85 cm are suitable.
Many manufacturers offer instructions on how to choose a fitball based on your height, in which these indicators may differ slightly, but the general trend is clear: the greater your height, the larger the fitball.
Choosing a fitball based on a person’s weight
An equally important indicator is the weight of the person who intends to purchase a Swiss ball. Some conflicts are possible here: if you know how to choose a fitball based on your height from the corresponding table, then in terms of weight, manufacturers indicate only the maximum permissible load.
And if the buyer is short and weighs a lot, the declared value may be less than required. In such cases, you can pay attention to models from other manufacturers; in extreme cases, you will have to buy a ball with a slightly larger diameter.
Those who are overweight should look for exercise balls that have an anti-burst feature . Such projectiles are marked accordingly (in English these are the abbreviations BRQ or ABS, which means Burst Resistant Quality and AntiBurst System, respectively).
The quality of the projectile is the main thing
If you don’t know how to choose a fitball based on quality , don’t hesitate to ask a sales consultant, or even better, find out ahead of time using the Internet. The level of comfort of the equipment and compliance with your dimensions should be checked right in the store: after sitting on the fitball, as on a regular chair, make sure that a right angle is formed .
If such a ratio is not observed, such a ball will not suit you, since when exercising on this simulator, the load on the joints will be quite significant. And, as we remember, the benefits of a fitball will be maximum if your musculoskeletal system is unloaded.
Now you know how to choose the size of a fitness ball, but there are several more important criteria that you should pay attention to.
Ball elasticity
One of them is elasticity, which characterizes the degree of load on the body during training. A more elastic ball will require more effort from you to maintain balance; a soft fitball will provide minimal stress. Press lightly with your hand on the top of the projectile: the deflection of a ball with an average elasticity will be approximately 2-3 centimeters, of a hard projectile - 1-2 cm.
Choosing a color
The color of the fitball does not affect the quality of the exercises, but is important in terms of aesthetic perception . It has been proven that bright balls contribute to the development of a positive attitude, but if you are purchasing it for practicing at home, it would be useful to choose a color scheme that would match the interior of the room in which the fitball will be stored.
Let us give as an example the advice of psychologists:
- red color increases energy;
- the blue ball has a calming effect;
- an orange fitball gives a positive attitude;
- the brown shell harmonizes emotions.
Basketball ball
A basketball is the largest of all types of balls. This is an air-inflated specimen, the weight of which depends on the size and purpose. The surface of the ball is not smooth, but has small bumps to hold it in your hand. Their number can reach 35 thousand.
There are balls that are used only in gyms, and there are universal ones. They can be played on courtyard courts and in basketball gyms with wooden floors. The color is standard, namely orange with black stripes.
The ball number depends on its size and weight. In the classification of types of basketballs, there are 4 positions:
- No. 7 - a ball for men's professional teams (size - 749-780 mm, and weight - from 567 to 650 grams).
- No. 6 - used for women's competitions (size - 724-737 mm, and the ball weighs from 510 to 567 grams).
- No. 5 - parents buy these balls for children involved in basketball clubs. Their size is from 610 to 710 mm. Such products weigh only 470-500 grams.
- No. 3 - the smallest specimens, which are used only for dribbling. The size is 560-580 mm, and it weighs only 300 grams.
Terrible beast Gridairon
The field at Syracuse University Stadium in 1910.
There is another term that fans of American football should know: gridiron football. At one time, our site could have been called not First & Goal, but Gridiron.ru.
Gridairon football refers to variations of this game on a specially marked field, which in its design resembles a barbecue grill. These include American football, Canadian football, flag football and arena football. The difference between them is the same as between dialects of the same language. But rugby football will be a different language, but from the same language group as Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
And if we want not to quarrel because our languages, the color of our skin, the name of God are different, then why not start by coming to terms with a ball of a different shape? In the end, it's all just football.
Volleyball ball
The volleyball is made from artificial or genuine leather. The cut consists of six panels sewn together, which are stretched over a frame base. The color scheme can be any, both multi-colored and monochrome. Each section has three stripes. The circumference of the product is 650-670 mm. Since they play with their hands, the weight of the product is small - from 260 to 280 grams.
The following types of volleyballs are distinguished:
- For playing in the hall. The internal air pressure of the ball is about 300 hPa.
- Products for beach volleyball. The size is slightly larger than the hall counterpart. The pressure inside the object also differs. The beach version is not as inflated, the pressure is less, because it will have to bounce off the sand.
Who is football and who is soccer
In the ranking of 10 phrases that make me want to scream, this one takes honorable fourth place: “Why is American football called football if they don’t kick the ball? They could call it something different, like rugby.”
Everything about this fairly common thought is wrong. You already know that these are all related games. Let's look at the etymology.
Football is not called that because you have to kick the ball during the game. As we have already seen, carrying a ball with your hands was considered normal even in nineteenth-century England. Then the sport would rather be called kickball.
That same medieval football that we talked about at the beginning of the material was a peasant’s game, a game of the mob. The aristocracy preferred to play team sports while on horseback. And they played football while on their feet.
For example, here’s what William FitzStephen wrote in the period from 1174 to 1183 about a game popular among English youth at the fair: “After lunch, all the city youth went to the fields to play with the ball. The students of each school had their own ball, and representatives of each of the city's crafts also brought balls. Older townspeople, fathers and wealthy residents watched the young people play while in the saddle.”
When did these damned Americans decide to replace the original English football with their own, and call the real one soccer? Never. The English themselves invented this word.
Football is a type of ball game that has a common set of features (you need to score points by reaching the opponent’s goal in a strictly defined area).
All questions disappear if you remember the long names of these varieties of the same sport.
In the USA they play football according to American rules. In Canada - according to Canadian standards. In Australia - according to Australian standards. The Irish revere Gaelic football. From England, football according to the rules of Rugby spread throughout the world. Well, the most popular type of football is football according to the rules of the Association. Association football.
Nobody likes long titles. Why say "Rugby Football" when you can just say "Rugby"? Why say “Association Rules Football” when you can shorten the last word to the slang “soccer”? Until 2006, the most popular sport in Australia and New Zealand was called soccer, do you think this is the machinations of the Americans? No, the British themselves actively called football that until about the seventies of the last century, after which it suddenly began to be considered an Americanism.
The desire for simplicity has led to the fact that in every country the most popular variety is simply called “football.” But this does not mean that there is one single correct version of this game.
By the way, hockey suffered a similar fate. Surely the first thing you thought about was what was happening with the puck on the ice? But even at the beginning of Soviet times, “hockey” in our country meant what is now called “bandy,” and the overseas game of playing a puck on ice was called exclusively “Canadian hockey.” Having gained momentum in popularity, Canadian hockey supplanted the original Russian one and received the right to be called in abbreviation – simply “hockey”.
Baseball
In our country, the game of baseball is not as popular as in the USA, but many people have seen what the ball for this game looks like in films and sports programs. It is made from a cork or rubber core, which is first wrapped around the entire circumference with yarn, the threads of which can be a kilometer long, and then covered with leather. The size of the ball is small - only 23 cm in circumference.
The quality of the filler also determines the behavior of the ball on the playing field. Recently, synthetics have been used in the production of internal filler, but such balls do not bounce well off the bat, so they are not accepted in the Major League. The more yarn wrapped, the better the rebound of the product. It is easier for a pitcher to pitch if the ball has high seams on the leather cover.
Bloody medieval bath
In the beginning there was the word. And the word was “kill.” Humanity has played ball since the beginning of time and all over the planet - from the ancient Greeks to the Song Dynasty in China, from the Indians of Central America to the Australian Aborigines. But the beginning of all modern types of football was given by the incredible cruelty with which Europeans kicked the ball in the Middle Ages.
“Thomas from Salisbury, a student at Oxford University, discovered the body of his deceased brother Adam. He was supposedly killed by Irish students while playing ball in the High Street near Eastgate,” as recorded in the Oxford Chronicle in 1303.
There is archival evidence that five years later, an Irishman, John McCrocan, was accused of manslaughter in the murder of football player William Bernard.
“During the game he kicked the ball, a friend ran up to him and hurt himself,” wrote about football in 1321 in Shouldham, Norfolk, England.
The medieval European ball game, referred to in chronicles as football, was most often a game in which one village played against another (or one town against another). The number of participants is unlimited. The goal is to deliver the air-inflated remains of the animal to some important geographical location, for example, to a neighboring church.
“There is only one rule - no rules,” this is about the football progenitor. As a result of one such game, the dead and maimed were innumerable. Naturally, the authorities tried their best to limit the spread of traumatic fun.
In 1363, the English king Edward III legally prohibited handball, football and hockey, putting them on a par with hare hunting and cockfighting. He was neither the first nor the last. In general, all the earliest mentions of football are messages about its ban.
When prohibitions did not help, they began to come up with rules.
How to play tennis
Tennis is played with large rackets, throwing a small bright ball over the net. It usually has a yellowish-green tint, but it can also be white. The goal of the game is to prevent the opponent from hitting the ball.
Making a tennis ball has its own unique features - when vulcanizing a rubber product, you need to pump an inert gas inside. This is done like this: before the process, a tablet is placed in the workpiece, which, when the temperature rises, releases gas, which creates the necessary pressure in the rubber ball, approximately equal to 2 atmospheres. The tablet consists of inorganic salts.
The tennis ball is covered with a fleecy material - felt or felt. It is this coating that protects the ball from impacts, because sometimes the speed of an object after touching the racket reaches 200 km per hour. The size ranges from 6.5 to 6.8 cm in diameter, and the weight does not even reach 59 grams.
Features of a water polo ball
Since this type of sports ball is used in an aquatic environment, the product is made on a frame made of rubberized material. The outer covering is completely similar to a soccer ball (weight and size).
Water polo balls are additionally covered with a waterproof layer, but it should not contain fat. The ball is inflated with air and the hole is closed with a nipple. Balls vary in weight and size. Larger copies are produced for men's teams. Their circumference ranges from 680 to 710 mm, and the weight of the product is up to 450 grams.
For games by women's teams, balls are produced in smaller sizes - barely reaching 670 mm, such a ball weighs 400 grams. Internal pressure is also less.
Lightweight table tennis ball
Everyone knows that this is the lightest and smallest ball that exists in sports games. It is made from thin celluloid. Most often, white balls are produced, but there are also yellow and orange specimens. It is created at the enterprise from two halves, which are glued together overlapping.
The diameter of the product ranges from 3.6 to 3.8 cm. It weighs a little more than 2 grams (up to 2.5 g). You need to choose products that are slightly rough, there should be no scratches.
How to use a fitball
There are three different ways to use a fitball:
- in a sitting position;
- lying on your stomach;
- lying on your back.
To perform most exercises with a stability ball correctly, you will need an exercise mat. Before use, make sure to properly inflate the ball, which should be firm but not too hard.
Attention! Although the material from which the ball is made is very durable, it should be protected from collision with sharp objects that could cause an explosion or damage.
Thus, the fitball is one of the best fitness tools that allows you to perform an endless range of exercises, which is an effective way to change your silhouette, gain flexibility and strength throughout the body.
