Sepak Takraw (Not a new player)

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.

We use a badminton net.

Very skilled but is it just volley ball for the armless ?

Love the game, one of those I always watch at the Asian games.