Power, agility and speed

The pelote basque is a very beautiful sport, which requires you to be strong, quick and

The pelote is a very old game which has been played by many civilisations. For example, the Greeks and the Mayas already played it many centuries before us. It is the Romans that taught it to the French during the Roman Empire. The game was called the “paume” and was very popular before the revolution. It was particularly popular in the Basque coast, where it was transformed into the game we know today. The most important transformations were done after the discovery of rubber in 1820, that made the basques able to create rackets .

The pelote basque can be played with different types of rackets, and on different grounds. In the basic game, you have to hit a ball; with a racket or with your hand, to make it go on a big wall. Your opponent has to hit this ball after you before it has touched the ground more than once. You are not allowed, when you hit the ball, to make it touch the ground before it has touched the wall. The ball goes very quickly and that is why you need to be agile, fast and strong, in order to send it far and make your opponent run. There are one or two clubs in Paris, but this sport is mainly played in the south west of France, where almost all the villages have a wall for the pelote. It is played during all the year but it is in summer that it is the more practised, because most of the time, the wall are on the outside.

This sport is very beautiful to see because it is fast and there is constant action. Furthermore, this is a very fun and simple sport that can be played wherever you want, as long

as you have a wall to make the ball bounce.

Florent Lamy