Fun With Bossaball

Print This Post

Bossaball is fast becoming one of the world’s most popular new sports. It falls under the extreme sports moniker and is played with great athletic skill. The sport is a mix of beach volleyball, gymnastics, Capoeira, and football. It is played on a court that is a combination of various inflatables, trampolines, and a net in the middle. Bossaball is a team sport that involves teams of three to five players. Using the skills from the aforementioned sport, the players create their teams and get ready for fast-paced action with lots of flying bodies and great skilful plays throughout the court of Bossaball. It is fast spreading to tourist destinations and exotic locales where the court is set up on the beach and onlookers are invited to take part in the interesting and exciting game.

Whereas most extreme sports are personal and individual, there are some activities in the extreme world that involve groups. Bossaball is one of those sports and involves a team of three to five players and combines a range of physical aspects. The sport is a blend of volleyball, gymnastics, football and capoeira - hard to imagine, isn’t it? This game involves lots of fast action and plenty of skill, and its popularity has reached beaches of tourist destinations and exotic locals where onlookers are invited to participate.

What do you get when you mix football with volleyball, gymnastics, and capoeira? A mess, most likely, but in all truth, those four sports can be blended into one great new game called Bossaball. Bossaball is considered an extreme sport and is rising in popularity at tourist destinations. Set up on a beach court, the game is fast-paced and involves a lot of skill. There are inflatables, trampolines and a net involved, if the puzzle of combining four sports wasn’t already enough to boggle the mind.

The goal of Bossaball is to ground the ball on the opponent’s field. Each time is allowed a maximum of eight contacts with the ball on their own side of the field, at the end of which a player will attempt to smash the ball on to the other side of the field. This is akin to the sport of volleyball for the most part, except that any body part may be used to make contact with the ball and the contact opportunities on one’s own side of the field are increased significantly from traditional volleyball rules. Players in Bossaball can actually only touch the ball once with their hands or double touch it with their feet or head. The scoring takes place much the same way as volleyball with points being awarded for the ball being grounded on the opposition’s side of the court.

If the ball is grounded on one of the inflatables, the team that grounds it gains one point. Scoring the ball on one of the trampolines is a gain of three points. Hitting the rings around the trampolines, or as they are called in the game: “Bossawalls”, does not count as a score or a point so the rally continues from that point. The interesting thing about Bossaball is its cooperation with music. On special occasions, Bossaball referees have a whistle, a microphone, a disc jockey set, and even various percussion instruments. These allow the person who is the referee to control the “soundtrack” to the game of Bossaball and the players actually play to the music.

Music and disc jockeying adds to the fun of Bossaball. The whole game cooperates with music and it’s common to see whistles, a microphone and often various percussion instruments. The referee controls the “soundtrack” of the whole game and there’s plenty of play going on to the music. As far as scoring points while keeping track of the song of the game, players earn points for grounding balls on the inflatable or scoring a ball on a trampoline. Just using the trampolines to hit the rings around doesn’t earn anything - which technique is referred to as using a “Bossawall.”

Scoring in Bossawall is pretty easy. A team who grounds the ball on an inflatable earns one point, but they’ll earn three if they score the ball on a trampoline. Using the Bossawalls (or trampolines) to hit the rings around doesn’t gain anything and is part of the play. What is also part of the play in Bossawall is the music involved, and referees often disc jockey a “soundtrack” for players to enjoy and use in game. The music that whistles, percussion instruments and the disc jockey set provide are integral parts of Bossaball and not just for entertainment.

Bossaball can be set up on a wide variety of surfaces and places, including amusement parks and beach clubs. They are common in resort facilities, hotels, summer camps, music festivals, and even at sales promotions. There is a Bossaball court traditionally set up at the X Games for extreme sports. There is a lot of opportunity for Bossaball to really catch on in North America as it is a sport that everyone can play and put a personal extreme spin on.

Bossaball is being seen more and more in plenty of locations. Resort facilities and hotels are getting into the game, and Bossaball courts can be seen at plenty of amusement parks and beaches. Sales promotions are also setting up this game for people to participate in. The X Games for extreme sports traditionally have a court for Bossaball as well. It’s a great game to get into, as everyone can play and add their own personal extreme twist.

You’ll find Bossaball in plenty of locations these days. Summer camps, resort facilities, hotels and even sales promotion events are getting into the extreme sport. The X Games has a court set up as well. Its growing popularity will surely see more courts pop up all over the place. The good thing about Bossaball is that plenty of people can enjoy the extreme sport and put their own spin on how the game is played.