The Sport of Airtoboal Revised and Renewed
Changes, updates, and improvements to the rules and game play of the brand new exciting sport of Airtoboal.
A few months ago I unveiled and unleashed the sport of Airtoboal to the world. The sport I have invented that I believe has some potential to become big time. Just like anything new I needed to get it out into the public for it to gain any traction and at that time I decided the best course of action was to write about it in detail to explain it in full. This was about all I could do since it being an entirely new concept still forming in my head I had no video of it being played or anything else really at all as a way of communicating it to the world. At that time when posting it online it was even more so in the early developmental stages than it is now. In that original article I said "There are still parts of it that may change and fluctuate for the bettering of the sport over time." That has indeed occurred, and I believe the sport is better for it. However I will be leaving up my previous articles as part of the documentation of the very real life twist and turns journey that one can go on when attempting the very novel, unique, and as I'm learning the profoundly difficult goal of starting a brand new sport from scratch and how things change as they go.
Having said all that though I'd like to now unveil the new look Airtoboal which has many kinks worked out. So without further ado welcome again to the sport of Airtoboal; which is indeed sport reimagined.
Let us begin with the very bare bone basics which involve learning what the ultimate goal of the sport is, the foundation it's set on and what the door of it hinges on. It involves getting a ball, really any ball except for a hard solid ball like a baseball as long as it is small enough to be gripped with the hand (so the ball should be about 5-7 inches in diameter), into the opponent's bowl (yes a litteral serving bowl that you could eat soup, salad, or cereal out of). Each team has thier own bowl preferably each of a different color or visual design. It is a team sport that can be played in any area on really any surface (grass, turf hardwood, pavement, sand, etc), with almost any amount of players; however it is probably best played on a full football field or in a basketball gymnasium with 9-11 players per team when played on the field and 4-5 players when played on the court. The ball except in rare circumstances cannot hit the ground and the ball carrier cannot be tagged while carrying the ball; if either of these happens then in most circumstances it is a turnover to the other team.
Here though is a major differential from most sports and makes the game unique; the bowls which is the goals can be moved with the feet, kicking it like a soccer ball either all over the field or all over a certain portion of the field each depending on the version of the sport played. So yes an opposing team can literally steal the opponent's bowl in order to move it to a more advantageous sport for the ball to score into it. In fact this is encouraged. No other popular sport has moving goals, that alone sets it apart and adds layers of strategy to the sport.
The ball can be moved in any direction by any player on the field and it can be moved with any body part through running, throwing, catching, volleying etc. Any player with very little exception can move all over the field in any direction at any time. So you can see already that it is the ultimate air and ground sport, with the ball moving through the air mainly with the hands and the bowl moving exclusively on the ground and with the feet. In this way it is a mix of flag football and soccer. The ball moving by being thrown and run like in football, but the bowl being dribbled with the feet like soccer. This dynamic of attempting never to be tagged while holding the ball or have it hit the ground as well as on the defensive end attempting to escape with the bowl to avoid the score leads to what is truly a game of constant movement and continuous movement simply by the nature of the game. Players must be fast and quick when running and passing the ball and bowl amongst teammates to avoid turnovers and scores to and by the opposing team. This naturally built in movement should make it by default a game of constant excitement.
If you read and remember in my first version of this sport I had said the ball could only be moved through volleying it (what I call bopping), this is a major change I have made since I realize doing that having those rules would make it an extremely difficult sport to play and also not aesthetically appealing since the ball will most likely be on the ground a whole lot if players can only bat the ball to teammates while on the run and being hounded by defenders. Therefore now volleying is still an option and an important one but as stated players are now allowed to catch and throw the ball while running and advancing it down the field.
Thankfully there are plenty of sports balls that fit the description of the ball all over the place for extremely cheap, we're talking like $10 and less. From mini volleyballs, nerf balls, mini soccer balls, and miniature dodge balls etc. However the most advisable is the 5-6 inch inflatable rubber dodge ball for reasons you will come to understand as you follow along with this sport. You can find these at Amazon and Walmart even in packs of multiples for a very cheap price.
However the bowl is a little more nuanced and precise. One day the goal will be that the bowl will be an official Airtoboal bowl designed to exact specifications, but for now there is a specific bowl on the market that works very well. With the bowl it is extreme important that it have a smooth and rounded bottom of it so it can move on any surface especially grass with minimal resistance. If you think of it a bowl is just half a ball anyways and that is why it works so well when being kicked on the ground. I actually started this by thinking a box would work, but quickly learned through trial that there is nothing pleasant about kicking a square box shaped object on grass! Therefore a bowl is necessary. The best bowl I've come across so far because it has no "lip" under it is the "Room Essentials" bowls from Target which can be purchased for less than $5 each. (So yes you do the math a kid can begin practicing this sport for less than $20 for the of two bowls and a ball).
Trust me I'm getting no money from these retailers tagging this as the “it” bowl or ball; it is simply just the perfect bowl for now. It has a 10 inch opening (which is now the standard opening diameter for any official Airtoboal bowl), which means any ball 5-7 inches can easily score into it, while also being smooth, rounded, small, and light enough to easily move over any surface and still be fun. Also the fact they can be purchased in different colors is necessary to distinguish one team's bowl from the opponent's which is key especially since in one version of the game the bowls can literally be anywhere on the field at any time including right next to each other.
So here you have it, the quick summary overview of this brand new sport. That gives you the gist of it. With the basic core concepts. There is still so much more to come to truly explain the game and the point and vision behind it, but to avoid overwhelming everyone I will be explaining things little by little article by article. I'm excited and I hope you're interest is piqued and arrested as you join me on this Airtoboal journey.