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OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
Patball evolves for each player as they progress through the school. Given my long and distinguished career, which started on the small courts behind the Junior School, before passing through the vast expanse outside the Lower School, and finally onto the newly painted ones outside the Laboratory, I’d like to detail the metamorphoses I have observed throughout my patball career. In the Junior School it’s certainly very popular: on a year group’s allocated day, virtually everyone in that year group will play patball. I remember fondly that there was great attention paid to the colour of the ball being used; the commissariat ones were frowned upon as being too ubiquitous, and balls of dual or even multiple colours were highly desired.
and other such online pursuits filled our breaktimes, not to forget a certain national lockdown that rather stifled team games. Current Middle School pupils can now enjoy the splendour of the new Laboratory courts, which I hope will help them raise their game. Finally, we made it to the Upper School: role models for the rest of the pupil body. What was it that we resorted to without fail? None other than patball of course. I would note, with a certain sense of pride, that the current Upper School cohort includes more proponents of the game than I’ve ever seen at my time here. Whether this is a good thing or not, I leave to you to decide. But even when our adolescent emotions push the games towards near anarchy, and prompt our teachers into fits of pique, we still have a unanimous feeling of joy. I sincerely hope that the current Year 12s are able to enjoy it just as much as we did. In previous years they would play outside the Comm on what was the worst court at the school; but since they have been gifted a share of the Laboratory courtyard I have high hopes for them. I am aware that, in the eyes of many, patball is a mere game, and nothing more than a breaktime hobby, but I also know that the memories I have of playing patball at Dulwich College will stay with me for the rest of my life. As my time as a student at the College nears its end, it would be remiss of me not to thank ‘Carmichael and Hoffman’, or whoever first created my fondest schoolboy hobby. Reaching the giddy heights of playing on the Upper School court outside Ned’s Place, which is owned, de facto, by Year 13 “
As I progressed into the Lower School, the increasing use of obscure rules somewhat daunted me, as I had never come across instances whereby you could argue whether you were out or not: previously what the ‘King’ said went unchallenged. By Year 7, however, more democratic processes were in action; rather like the transition of Bhutan in 2008, patball was no longer an absolute monarchy. Furthermore, the larger courts and the slight slope of the Lower School playground added more physicality to the games. The Middle School years saw an unfortunate decline in our patball hours clocked. I would love to blame the lack of courts and the fierce competition for the two sole courts designated to us behind the Shackleton Block. However, the rise of Clash Royale, Fortnite
There are a few core rules that everyone must abide by before any variations are accepted:
• When using the hand to hit the ball, you must hit it such that the ball bounces in your own square before bouncing in another person’s square, to make it a legal shot. If the player fails to do this then ‘straight-ins’ is called, and they are out.
• If a player uses another body part, then they are allowed to hit the ball into another person’s square without it bouncing in their own square first, for example when using the head. • When any shot is played, the ball cannot bounce twice in a person’s square, either before they hit it or after; if this does happen, then ‘double-bounce’ is called, and they are out.
• A traditional courtesy is that if a player gets out then it is their duty to retrieve the ball and return it to the court, especially if the ball travels quite some distance from the court after the point. Etiquette is a core value of the game.
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