Great sport. I first had a go at this in Lumphini Park, Bangkok, when some locals invited me to join in. I later bought a ball and took it with me through Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam. It was a great icebreaker with locals in the villages where people would sometimes gather to watch our impromptu game.
I later wrote to the Thai embassy in London who sent me half a dozen Takraw balls as I wanted to introduce it at my school. Not played it for years until last term when I relaunched it. Kids look bemused at first but after a few minutes, if they're good footballers, they get the hang of it and really enjoy it.
It certainly hurts the head. We have the rattan, the modern plastic and a very heavy bamboo-like ball (no one uses this one!). Even with trainers, your feet are sore afterwards but the rattan is fine and the lads preferred it. I now prefer a game of this to a game of 5-a-side football. None of us attempt the overhead stuff - not flexible enough - so we get some quite long rallies which are exciting when there are desperate, acrobatic attempts by a team to keep the ball in play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPAubjLO1gg
Comments
I later wrote to the Thai embassy in London who sent me half a dozen Takraw balls as I wanted to introduce it at my school. Not played it for years until last term when I relaunched it. Kids look bemused at first but after a few minutes, if they're good footballers, they get the hang of it and really enjoy it.
Saw this in Thailand back in 2003.
Games gone soft, wearing trainers now.
Used to be bare foot and that bamboo ball bloody hurts a soft western foot I can tell you.
Love the fact one of the positions is KILLER.