[vvxtiopmx]

For those who are familiar with Sepak Takraw, I believe you can relate to my first experience watching and playing this amazing sport. I was completely amazed. It's a combination of gymnastics, soccer, and volleyball, where two three-person "Regu's" square off on a small court divided by a 5 ft. high net. The rules are utterly simple: a canteloupe sized ball woven either from rattan stems or plastic is hit back and forth over the net by using ones body, minus the hands and arms.

The scoring system is like tennis or volley ball--a team can only score on their own serve, a game is played to 15 points, and a match is decided by the first to 2 out of a possible 3 games.

Experienced players are regularly seen doing upside-down twist flip moves in the air to spike the ball.

As you may have read from my last post here, I'll be in Bangkok for 3 months studying at University. We're considering takraw as a candidate for a short, 10-15 minute documentary film which would include the history, competition, and interesting culture of the game through the lives of the players.

It seems the game is played much like American pick-up basketball, where motorcycle taxi drivers stop for quick breaks at the court and money is usually bet to make things interesting. Friends here have also mentioned the game played on a much more formal, professional level where the acrobatic feats are even more impressive.

I'm currently researching the sport online, but if anyone knows of any resources, courts, or associations around Bangkok (or even Thailand) concerning Sepak Takraw, I'd love to hear about them.

joey@unc.edu