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Speed-ball (also Speedball, Turnball) is a racket and a ball sport which was developed in Egypt in 1961. It is very similar to the game of totem tennis / swingball, in which participants take turns hitting a ball tethered to a vertical pole.

Speed-ball originated as a training routine for lawn tennis which eventually became a sport of its own. The sport has now gained popularity in several countries around the world.

The sport can be played anywhere, requiring basic equipment that can be setup easily. A hollow elliptical ball is suspended from a 1.7m high mast using a nylon rope and plastic rackets are the only required equipment.

The sport can be played in three different formats :

Super-solo: Only a single player is involved and the objective is to hit the ball as many times as possible in four different ways, one minute for each way. The four ways are, right hand only, left hand only, forehand only with two rackets in each hand, and backhand only with two rackets in each hand.

Singles: Played between two players. Gameplay involves both players hitting the ball in opposite directions. A player scores a point if the other player misses. Matches are played to 10 points.

Doubles: Played with four players, two players on each team. The gameplay is similar to that of singles format, but the two players in a team take turns hitting the ball.

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Similar Sports

• Totem Tennis (Swingball) — a two-player game where opponents hit a tethered ball attached to a pole with paddles, aiming to wind or unwind the ball completely in their direction to win.
• Tetherball — two players hit a ball attached by a rope to the top of a stationary pole.
• Tennis — a court sport where players use a stringed racket to hit a ball to each other over a net.

Related Pages

• There is a similarly named sport Speedball, an American ball game.
• About sport in Egypt
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports — a list of every sport from around the world.