Plans to bring a new sport to the Lowveld not stopped by Covid-19

Wiser ball, or wiser sport, is currently played in Europe and Gauteng and may soon be coming to the Lowveld. This was confirmed by the sport’s local organising committee secretary, John Magagula, during an interview. “Deliberations actually began late last year.

The plan was to officially launch a mini-tournament as a pilot project, just to test the waters and try to attract more people into this sport. “We were only disturbed by the outbreak of the coronavirus, which eventually forced the country into a lockdown,” explained Magagula. The committee targeted townships such as KaNyamazane, KaBokweni, Matsulu and Hazyview to as initial venues for this sport.

Wiser ball was first introduced to South Africa in September 2017 by the chairman of the South African Wiser Ball Committee, Thomas Wong, with the help of Thapelo Semenya. It is rapidly becoming a popular sport in other provinces such as Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. According to Wikipedia, wiser ball originated from an ancient ball game played by royal families and high-ranking officials as a tool to practise strategic planning.

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It was recently modified from the ancient game by the World Wiser Sport Committee, which published modern rules for the game on November 30, 2013.

This is a sport that combines strategy and physical exercise. The game is played with a set of seven white, soft balls and another set of seven numbered red, soft balls, ten flags each of yellow and red, shaped like isosceles triangles, 60 centimetres above the ground, nine to 15 cones to mark the boundaries, and a twelve-metre rope used as the centre line.

“In an official game, two teams play against each other, each of which has seven players. The game can be played wherever there is enough space, outdoors or indoors. “Each player is in control of one ball.

The team captain discusses with the rest of the team during the game to come up with on-field tactics and strategy,” Magagula explained the rules of the game.

The two teams start the game at the two short sides of the 24-metre field. The teams will then take turns in throwing balls into the playing field, until all balls are placed on the field. The balls can be positioned anywhere on the field and no penalty is given if they are out of bounds, because in this phase there is no boundary limitation.

At this time throwing the balls into the field is for setting for strategic positions only. No touching other balls of either the opposition or your own team is allowed. When throwing of the balls is finished, the second phase, which is the attacking phase, begins.

In this phase a player can pick up their ball and aim it at an opposition’s ball for an attack. If it successfully hits the opposition’s ball, that ball is frozen.

This is called the first lock, followed by the second lock, until the ball is permanently removed from the game. Magagula said more details and way forward will be communicated after the lockdown has lifted. || wiser || (matt) mm-wiser ball