Early retirement brings us the opportunity to do numerous great activities. Still, from time to time, I read on the forum lots of posts about people running out of stuffs to do, having worse health than before or getting somewhat bored with ER. Well, retirement is supposed to be fun!
For example, we can play many sports. But from what I read here, the most popular ones seem to be golf, and to smaller extents, surfing and diving. Which makes sense, because after what all those straining & exhausting corporate years have done to your health, your body may not be in the best shape to do the high contact, injury-prone sports like American football, for example.
Nevertheless, all the mentioned “ER sports” share many serious flaws, one of them being expensive and another being very location-demanding. Not to mention the harms they do to the environment: a golf course needs humongous amounts of water and care, while the water sports require very specific manufactured equipment and too much tourism can severely damage our diminishing coral reefs.
But when we give another thought about other sports, they don’t appear to fare better anyway. It’s hard to play soccer because there’ll be a need of 22 persons, or 10 at least, and the fact that everyone else is busy running in the rat race doesn’t help in assembling a team, either. The same goes with basketball, and this sport strains your knees with high jumps. Meanwhile, tennis is hard on your arm joints and quite exhausting in itself… The list goes on and on. In short, no present sport seems to qualify as the optimal one for us retirees, or for everyone for that matter.
This observation has led me on the quest to find out what a perfect sport looks like. It should be cheap – Mustachian, as the 1st requirement. It should combine the pros of other sports while avoiding their cons at the same time. It should be easily customized to accommodate any and all level of fitness, so that you can enjoy a match with everyone you care for. It should this & it should that…
Then, after some research, if there can’t be a perfect one, why shouldn’t we invent the best sport possible? That, my friends, is what I’ve been doing. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you:
BOLUTA.
RulesA/ Court and ball: using the badminton court, with measures as in the picture. The net height is 1.82m (with a slack in the center of no more than 3cm) for professionals, and 1.55m, though you can change it to facilitate your own best experience. The most tested & recommended height above is the same with that in badminton, so you don’t have to configure the poles at all. The competing ball is the tennis ball.
[Need help, mods! There's an image attached, but I don't know how to put it right here?]
Singles play area is the “smaller square” (net line - singles side line - long service line for doubles - singles side line) plus 3p area, as described later. Doubles play area is the “bigger square” (net line – doubles side line – back boundary line – doubles side line).
On each side of the court there are a 2-point area (“critical”) and a 3-point area (“sudden”). The 3p area means that if it’s hit by the ball (1st or 2nd bounce) and the player can’t throw it back, then the opposition wins that particular game. Each 3p area is chosen by the player on the opposite side, among the two smallest rectangles on the farthest parts of the court. Before a match starts, there will be a coin flipping procedure. The coin winner has the right to choose the opponent’s 3p area first or last. The other player retains the choice of which side to serve first.
B/ How to play:
1. Each player uses his/her hands (or whatever part of his body) to catch & throw the ball into the competitor’s court. If one fails to do that, or is unable to throw it back before the ball bounces twice on the ground, then the opponent wins point(s).
2. Players are allowed to change hands once.
3. There are 3 feet positions (states) in relation with the ground: not touching; one foot touched; and two feet. Throughout the time the body is in touch with the ball (i.e. from the time the hand catches the ball to the moment it is thrown), the state of a player’s feet are allowed to change once.
4. Serving:
- Singles position: at least one foot has to touch the ground during the action. The server’s feet must be behind the 2p area. The throwing palm needs to be upward. In other words, the serve must be thrown in an upward direction, with an underarm throwing action.
- Doubles position: at least one foot has to touch the ground during the action. The server’s feet must be behind the Doubles’ service line. (The above singles’ hand regulation does not apply)
- Within a game, each side takes turns to serve, which means no one gets to serve twice. The winner of previous game gets to serve first in the next. The side who lost in the previous set gets to serve first in the next.
5. In case one player can’t catch the ball before it rebounds twice, the 1st & 2nd bounces of the winning throw determine the points earned. If the ball lands on the same score area then the player only wins that amount of points. If it lands on different score areas then s/he wins the sum of those points.
6. Each side needs three consecutive points to win a game. (It means if you are being led by two points, and then score one, then it’s you who are having the advantage). Whoever gets to 9 games first and have a lead of at least 2 games wins a set. A match is the best of 5 or 7 sets, based on gender, stamina or skill level.
Advantages1. Unlike football or martial arts, Boluta is a sport without direct impacts between competing sides, therefore most injuries are avoided, as with unsportsmanlike conducts.
2. The level of exercising activities of Boluta rates from fair to quite high, which helps burn a high amount of calories and thus fulfills the need for health training. This is a big strength over chess.
3. What you need are only your hands and maybe a pair of shoes, therefore the personal equipment requirement of Boluta is minimum – so cheap when compared with expensive sets of golf clubs, for example.
4. Boluta takes advantages of existing facilities such as the courts of badminton and the balls of tennis. In other words, we don’t have to invest into infrastructure and therefore save the environment too!
5. When practicing, we can adjust the net height, the footstep regulation, the number of sets, etc… based on an individual’s health condition. Basically, the sport’s ability to customize is very high.
6. The required space is not large – actually it’s too small when compared to, say, baseball or cricket.
7. It helps develop the body’s overall muscles, especially in both of our arms. Racquet sports like ping pong, tennis only focus on one arm.
8. The ball is almost not affected by the wind, hence Boluta can be practiced outdoors, in contrast with badminton. Moreover, the shuttlecocks degrade quickly & require lots of wasted changes.
9. Boluta is very easy to habituate compared to sports that require high level of skill and accuracy, or demand a long time of practice to reach a basic standard, such as gymnastics or swimming.
10. In contrast to volleyball or basketball, the minimum required number of person for a match is only two, so it’s extremely easy to gather enough players.
Give it a try and have a feel for yourselves. I believe there are many courts around towns, and in case you want to build your own one, it’s easy enough to create a Boluta court DIY-style. About the ball, I asked a tennis boy for used ones and was given way more than enough. Bounce like a dream – many balls look like new. Just think of how many would be wasted without this Mustachian sport!
OK, don’t just read & leave it there. Go out & have fun! I’d love to hear your feedback and am more than happy to answer any questions about Boluta, how to play, etc… If you like the sport, there are some ways to help me:
- I appreciate any advice and opinions on how to improve Boluta. It’s fairly new and has room to get better.
- Spread the word! There’s no reason for others not to benefit from better health. Mind you, this scientific sport is designed to serve everybody, be they rich or poor, lazy or assiduous, old or young, man or woman, weak or strong, and post-FIRE or not…
- I don’t have very adept skills at video editing or other content-related stuffs. Therefore it’d be great if someone is kind enough to help me in creating some promotional materials for Boluta! Discussion can be here, via PM or any channels you like.
- As English is not my 1st language, there can be ambiguous expressions here & there, especially in the how-to-play section? As a result, I'd be thankful if you can suggest better paragraphs at points you see as unclear. If you help me rewrite them in native English, then all the better :)
I also wrote a set of rules for doubles play & triples play. I’m reviewing them now in order to ameliorate for best multiplayer experience, but if there’s any demand I’d happily post them too. I will also try to collect your questions (again, if any) and answers into a FAQ post. For now, here’s to your health!