By Isaac Wambua
The woodball was invented in 1990 by Mr. Ming-Hui Weng, (president international woodball federation). He came up with an idea to build a garden for his father to take a walk and enjoy the beautiful view in the scenic spot Nei-Shuang-His were situated in Shih-lin, Taipei city. After mowing the weeds of the hillside, he found there were terraced fields which can be developed as an outdoor exercise place.
It flashed through his mind that he could make a good use of this garden by designing it as a ball-playing ground. Under such a motive, he was trying to create a ball sport in which the playing-ball would be played on the grass ground, and the sport itself should be economical so that he could invite more friends to enjoy the fun of playing the ball in the greenfield.
After two years experimenting and adjusting, the equipment and the regulation of the ball game has emerged finally as they are today.
Is Woodball the same as Golf?
Woodball is similar to golf with all the excitement and thrill, it is said that the Woodball game is a cross between golf and the game of croquette. It is a lawn game but can still be played indoors or on an open space.
Woodball is played in a swinging tee-shot and strokes. The player who completes the course (referred to as the Gate) in Woodball with the fewest strokes wins the game. The length of the gate from the starting area to the gate ranges from 27 yards (par 3) to over 110 yards (par 5) or from 30 to 130 meters.
But unlike in Golf which uses a number of driving clubs and a putter, in Woodball the player uses only one club called a “Mallet” which is made of wood for teeing off, fairway playing and putting. The ball of the Woodball game is larger (33/4 inch in diameter) and is heavier than that of Golf ball. It is made of wood (hence the name of the game) spherical in shape.
Woodball uses a ga, which is like a tiny soccer goal post. The gate is formed with two wooden bottle-shaped stumps which are fixed apart on the ground, and it is crossed with a swinging gatekeeper when the ball rolls in between the two stumps.
The woodball game team consists of 8-18 players.6 players are allowed in a game, but the results of only the four best pairs in the team are used when tallying the strokes. The objective of this game is to complete 12 gates or some other designated number of gates. In International competitions ,24 gates or more
Let's connect with Charles Mwaura, a Woodball player
He is a student at Chuka University and a good woodball player in the school team. Says that Abhishek Patel, an International Woodball player from India, inspired him to join the campus Woodball team after enrolling at the University.
He was interested in learning the new game. According to Charles, what he enjoys a lot in the woodball game it bounds him with more people and he likes interaction. He says that, the most important skills a woodball player should have been accuracy and relaxed mind during the game, he prefers the metal mallet because it has suitable weight, strong and more accurate as he compares with wooden mallet hence giving "The Perfect Swing".
He does daily training, watching videos of international Woodball players while playing as strategies to improve his accuracy in the game. This has helped him reach the National level, and he is looking forward to playing at the international level in Australia. Some of the daily challenges he faces are tough players who are more accurate and a lack of focus when playing, but he urges new players to be focused and listen keenly to their coaches or teammates, and all will be well.
The memorable tournament for him, is when he attended game at South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU) which was the first woodball game and managed to lead in Male Fairways qualifying to progress to National level despite been the first experience in the woodball game. He finally urges people to like and learn about the woodball game it's interesting ".
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