Polish Traditional Games

Educational Project comenius 2013-2015Healthy start for a healthier future

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Polish Traditional Games

In the past children spent free time playing completely different games than they play nowadays. It's especially visible in the era of computers and Internet.Nowadays there are only a few traditional Polish sports and games. We hope to revive this part of our tradition by telling you more about them. This is a list of our traditional sports and games that arent totally forgotten and Polish people still play them.

"KLASY /CLASSES" - you draw a scheme on the ground and then you must complete seven stages of the game by jumping on the squares marked with numbers 1-8. Before you can start jumping, you must throw a little stone on the right square in the numbers order. If you don't manage to place the stone on a right square, make a mistake performing the jumps or step on a line, you must let another person try.

"DWA OGNIE / CROSSFIRE"- is a game for several children. You need a playing field and a ball. In this game two teams compete, they should have the same number of players. Players throw the ball at each other trying to hit their opponents. To score points you must eliminate all opposite players by hitting them. You mustn't cross the lines which mark the field. You get the points if the ball which you throw hits your opponent and he doesn't manage to catch it. A hit player must leave the field. The first team without the players loses the game.

"PASTWA / WAR OF COUNTRIES" - children draw a large circle on the ground and divide it into several parts which are given the names of countries. Then one person stands in the middle of the circle and the others run away as far as possible in a few seconds. Then they stop and the person in the middle of the circle, who goes to war, takes a little stick and throws into a chosen person trying to hit them. If he succeeds, he can take over the other person's piece of the country. Whilecarving out a fragment of the country with a chalk, he must stand on straight legs - which makes it a bit more difficult. The aim of the game is to "invade and occupy'' the other countries' territories.

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"GUMA / WAISTBAND" - a game which needs players to be very skillful and agile, two children put an elastic waistband around their ankles and spread it. The third person performs a series of steps and jumps over the waistband to complete this stage. If she/he does it, they can move to a next stage. The waistband is moved up to the knee height, then, in the next stage to the hip, armpit, and finally neck height! If you fail to do something correctly, you step aside and another person has a go. The person who completes all the stages in one row, wins.

RINGO- is played on a rectangular court with a raised net, similar to volleyball. Individual players or teams stand on opposite sides of the net and throw a small rubber ring back and forth, without letting it hit the ground. When it is played one by one, then there is only one ring, when more - two. The winner of the game is the person/team that will first score 15 points. To score a point the ring has to hit the floor on the opponent's side. Players can catch the ring with both left and right hands, but they have to throw it with the same hand they caught it with. With the ring in hand the player can make four steps, then he or she has to throw it. You lose a point when: you touch the ring with some other part of the body than a hand, the ring hits the net and falls on your side, you change the hand in which you held the ring, you throw the ring with both your feet in the air, you throw the ring in an inappropriate way.

PALANT- The history of this sport begins in the Middle Ages. In the 19thcentury the interest in palant increased, and so some competitions were held. This sport was so popular that the Polski Zwizek Piki Palantowej(Polish Organisation of Palant Ball) was founded. Unfortunately, this organisation didnt last long. It was transformed into Polski Zwizek Baseballu i Softballu (Polish Organisation of Baseball and Softball). Palant is quite similar to baseball. You also hit the ball with a bat whose name is palant. After you hit the ball you have to run to the finish line and then back to the nest. The task for the opposite team is to hit the running player with the ball. Now palant is played in the village Grabw (near d), where the title King of palant has only positive connotations.

PIERCIENIWKA- This game was created in 1936 in Poland. It is similar to volleyball, but the net here has 3 holes (piercienie). You dont throw the ball over the net, but through those holes, and its only acceptable, 2 when you do it using two hands. This game isnt popular, but its really easy to play, so everyone can enjoy it. This game is played in 4-player team.