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Gaga (game)

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Octagonal Gaga court

Ga-ga (lit. "touch-touch") is an Israeli variant of dodgeball.[1] The game combines dodging, striking, running and jumping with the object of hitting opponents with a ball below the knee while avoiding being hit.[2] The game can be played by groups of individual players, teams and in one-on-one matches.

Other names for the game include Israeli DodgeBall, and Octo-Ball.

Gameplay

Ga-ga is played in a large octagon or hexagon called the Ga-ga pit. Ga-ga begins with someone throwing the gaga ball up into the air. When it bounces the players say "Ga" each bounce for the first three bounces. Your back should stay on the wall until the three bounces are done. After three bounces the ball is in play and the game starts. A player cannot hit the ball twice in a row unless it bounces off a wall or another person. When a player is hit, he/she leaves the game. A player who knocks the ball out of the pit is also out. If a player catches the ball in the air, the last person to hit the ball is out.[3]

Rules

  1. You can hit the ball with your hands, but picking up the ball and throwing it at a player is not allowed.
  2. If the ball touches a player anywhere on or below the knee (in some versions, below the ankle), that player is eliminated from the game.
  3. A player cannot touch the ball two times sequentially; the ball must hit another player or wall before that player can touch the ball again. If the player violates this rule, it is called a double touch and that player is out. Some versions of the game allow double or even triple touches.
  4. If a player pops the ball up into the air, another player may catch it and ground it. Some variations do not allow catching at all.
  5. The player cannot kick the ball. (As this is touching the ball below the knee.)
  6. If a player hits the ball out of the arena without touching the wall, ground, or another player, the player who hit it is out.

Popularity outside Israel

Ga-ga was played in the Australian Jewish community of Perth, Western Australia from the 1960s. The 1980s saw a thriving period for junior competition Ga-ga. The game was introduced through the exchange of Israeli madrikhim (counselors) to Australia or Australian madrikhim returning from Israel.

Mainstream Ga-ga

In July, 2012 The New York Times wrote that "to the surprise of parents who recall the game from their youths, gaga is solidly mainstream." Among the things that contributed to ga-ga's expansion, the article credits children's love of the game. "They are teaching it to their parents and not vice versa. It’s not like baseball or football or tennis, where they have to emulate someone else. Kids own it.”[4] Children often learn about gagaball through summer camps that are across Canada and the United States, with varying sizes of pits.

United States Expansion

Ultimate Ga-ga is a 23,000 sq.ft. sports facility in Syosset, Long Island that has six Ga-ga pits. Thousands of players have visited since its opening. The owner has friends who played the game at summer camps 40 or 50 years ago. It is believed to have been brought to the United States by Israeli counselors working at Jewish summer camps.[5]

Ga-ga continued its US expansion to Manhattan with the opening of The Gaga Center, New York's first facility dedicated to the sport.[6] ABC News was the first broadcast news organization to cover the sport of Ga-Ga at The Gaga Center, labeling it the "kinder, gentler version" of dodgeball.[7]

Ga-ga has become a mainstay in Salvation Army Camps of the Empire State Division, with Long Point Camp boasting one of the most used pits outside of Israel.

European and US championships

The Ga-ga European Championship was first held in 2000 in Lisbon, Portugal. Highly competitive, 36 countries participate every summer in game play. Ga-ga gained momentum in Latin America in the 1970s through the efforts of Professor Ueve, founder of the Ani Be Ata institute.

Perhaps the most famous Ga-ga match in the United States took place in Texas in the summer of 1994. Three world class competitors, Micha Liberman, Jonah Paransky, and Benji Lovitt, known collectively as "The Power Action Triangle", competed for the title of United States Southwestern Champion. The competition lasted for almost 7 hours. Paransky, who was clearly out matched from the beginning, was eliminated two hours and 47 minutes in. Liberman and Lovitt went around and around for the next five hours neither one able to take out the other. Finally after six hours and 52 minutes Lovitt was eliminated on a controversial "double tap". Liberman was awarded the championship only to have it stripped weeks later by the NGA (National Ga-ga Association) when he tested positive for steroids. References.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Etymology of Ga-ga
  2. ^ Going gaga over Gaga Ball
  3. ^ Giddy over Ga-ga: Dodgeball-like game from Israel is a hit
  4. ^ Move Over, Dodge Ball
  5. ^ Giddy over Ga-ga: Dodgeball-like game from Israel is a hit
  6. ^ You’re out, dodgeball! These UES kids are into a kinder, gentler game (with a funny name)
  7. ^ Gaga game a hit in schoolyards and camps
  8. ^ Gaga game a hit in schoolyards and camps
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