[BundEnhamma]

Sepak takraw also played in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

[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

[ErnestTU]

when you are in thailand and you have time, go to lumpini park. last time i was there i saw a group of people playing this sport, it was fun to look at them

actually i'm used to this sport since my dad and our neighbours loved to play late in the afternoon when they were free from work and half of the whole village would come to cheer

[7kitthuptarill]

Yes it is a great game, I play it for about 20 hours per week from March-October. I think I even wrote a blog on it. If you want some pictures of some of our games I can email them to you. I think I even have some video that is spliced into several scenes. Maybe 1GB worth.

[trettegeani]

The Thai-Japanese Sports Center hosts takraw tournaments four times a year. Admission is free. Call (662) 4655325 for dates and times. Another good spot to watch net takraw games is in the northeast corner of Sanam Luang, especially during the March and April kite contests. Other venues are the National Stadium, Tel: (662) 2140121, Hua Mak Stadium, Tel: (662) 3180940-4, and the Takraw Association of Thailand, Tel: (662) 2811038, (662) 2811054.

Also look out for hoop takraw (takraw lot huang): Three 45-centimetre hoops are suspended above a circle of six or seven players. Passing back and forth, they kick the ball higher and higher till they reach the velocity to score a point through the hoop. After thirty minutes, their score is totted up and a rival team steps to the court to try to surpass them. Hoop takraw matches take place regularly during the February-to-April hot season at Sanam Luang and other parks throughout Bangkok.

Good luck with your research and have a good trip to Thailand.