Nestball

Nestball is a popular aerial non-contact sport played by Ardeans and other winged Folks.   The game involves two teams, each consisting of five players that each play a specific role in the aerial playing field. The aim of the game is to score points by throwing as many large melon-sized balls into the opponent's nest as possible, with only one ball being actively in play at any one time.   Once a ball is in the nest, players reset their starting positions before the referee launches the next ball into the air.   The rules of movement are very strict: if you have posession of the ball, you must not flap your wings.   This results in some very fast paced and coordinated gameplay as the ball is rapidly thrown around in mid-air. As a player catches the ball, they are allowed to free-fall and glide (so long as they don't flap their wings) before hurling their ball upwards to a team mate.   Players must avoid bumping into each other amidst this chaos and are only allowed to intercept the ball by blocking it (or catching it) with their limbs. They can use their outstretched wings to obscure the vision of other players (again, so long as there's no physical contact) to make it harder for them to throw it into the nest.   The ball can be held or gripped with the hands, arms, talons, legs, or any limb(s) that are able to hold it. It doesn't matter which you use - once you have it you can't flap your wings. Some teams use throwing strategies whilst other teams have perfected the use of aerial kicks and somersaults to fling the ball.  

Roles

  1. Guardian - defends the nest from players trying to throw the ball into it
  2. Rear - occupies the back third of the space, including height
  3. Middle - occupies the middle third of the space, including height
  4. Front - occupies the front third of the space, including the height
  5. Diver - often the smallest and fastest player whose job is to traverse the entire space and deliver the ball to where it needs to be, often diving at great speeds to retrieve it before lobbing it back upwards to another player
  The divers and referee are the only folks who can traverse through all sections ot the space - the other players must remain within their thirds which are marked out by very thin flexible reeds in a cube shape.
Ardean
Species | Nov 30, 2022


Cover image: by TJ Trewin

Comments

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Dec 27, 2020 23:31 by Avalon Arcana

Now this sounds like my kind of sport! Wish i had wings so I could play it. Oh well, guess I'll stick to reading about things instead.

You should check out the The 5 Shudake, if you want of course.
Dec 28, 2020 22:41 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

This sounds like it'd be fun to watch! I love the movement rule about not flapping your wings when you have possession of the ball!

Dec 30, 2020 03:33

That one simple rule suddenly makes this a very interesting game.

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