Patball

Patball

A Black Patball
Nicknames	"Pattball", "Wallball", "Slapball"
Characteristics
Contact	limited to none
Team members	one person per team, each team competes against the others
Mixed-sex	yes
Type	Competing sport, ball sport
Equipment	wall/court, hand, tennis ball/patball
Venue	school playground, Patball court

Patball is a non-contact competitive ball game played in many forms using one's hands or head to hit the ball against a wall – the objective being to get the succeeding player out. The game is popular in school playgrounds during break-time. Patball is played with a tennis ball, or other similar-sized specific patball, and the preferred hand, rather than any form of racquet or bat, similar to wallball. The hand is used to "pat" the ball at the wall or at the opponent with the objective of making the ball un-returnable, similar to squash. Variations of the game include the use of the foot -'footies' or 'Devils' touch'; a semi-contact rule popularised at Coopers Technology College.

It is very popular among London public schools, most notably, private schools such as Whitgift School, St John's Beaumont, Dulwich College^[1]Dulwich Hamlet, and Woodcote.

The game is also played extensively across London state schools. In 1992, Highgate Wood School in Haringey installed special Patball walls made from plywood in order to satisfy the popularity of the game. St John's Beaumont School has pat ball courts painted on a playground wall.