The "Main Nue" (bare hand) is the ancestor of all the basque
sports, the players use only the palms of their hands to hit the Pelote.The Different
Frontons
All Villages in the Pays Basque and Southern Landes have exterior "Frontons"
known as "Fronton Place Libre", which consist of a rectangular court marked with
service and fault lines plus a large pink shaped wall at one end, marked with 2 vertical
lines which define the playing area, the 2 sides and end are left open.
The length of the Fronton Place Libre in each Village defines what type of Pelote can be
played on it, this seems to vary from 30m to 120m (the towns with 80m plus, generally have
a wall at each end so that 2 games of Pala can be played at once or 1 game of Chistera).
A "Jaï-Alaï" is an in-door fronton covering a "cancha" (56 meters
long) which is used exclusively to play Cesta Punta. The game utilizes three walls: the
front (11.5m wide x 10.5m high), the back (10.5m wide x 9.0m high) and the left hand wall
(marked at 10.5m high x length) which is divided in 14 "cuadros" (numbered from
one - fourteen, 4.0m apart), on the right side of the court 3.5m over is a full height net
to guard the stands and public galleries from this high speed game. Two teams of two play
the game to 35 points. The service is made with a chistera from the number 11 cuadros (44
meters) and the ball (called a pelote) must bounce between the number 4 and the number 7
on the way back. If the pelote falls before the 4th cuadros (called "falta"),
they loose the point and the other side commence to serve, and if it falls after the 7th
cuadros (called "pasa") it is a half fault and they have a second chance at the
service.
A "Fronton avec Mur a Gauche" (with left hand wall) is an in-door fronton
covering a "cancha" (36 meters long) where Pala or Main Nue are played. The game
utilizes three walls: the front (10.5m wide x 9.25m high), the back (9.5m wide x 8.0m
high) and the left (marked at 9.25m high x length) which is divided in 10
"cuadros" (numbered from one - ten, 3.5m apart), on the right side of the court
2.5m over is a full height net to guard the public galleries from the players, (bats) and
pelote.
A "Trinquet" is an in-door fronton covering a "cancha" (28.5 meters
long). The games utilize three walls: the front (9.30m wide x 8.50m high), the back (9.30m
wide x 5.50m high) and the left (marked at 5.50m high x length) which is divided into 6
"cuadros" (numbered from one - six, 2.5m apart), starting 7.25m from the front
wall, this court incorporates a right hand wall.
The Trinquet has other added nightmares in the court area, an observation gallery (for
lack of the real name) for the public or adjudicators to view, which has been constructed
down the left hand wall and along the rear wall, 1.3m deep x 2.25m high with a sloped
roof and netted windows. The gallery is included as part of the game, as the objective
is to bounce the ball off several walls and the roof of the gallery to confuse the
opponent as to where the ball might land. The right hand corner front wall is set at an
angle of 45° x nearly ½ a meter wide, plus adjacent to this is a 60cm (2ft) square hole
called a "Xilo", with angled edges and its center at 1.5m off the floor. If the
player can hit the Xilo or the corner with the ball it can go anywhere, which creates a
problem for their opponent.
The Different Games
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