Gateball TV

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Glen Whitehead

The Japanese Gateball Union has launched Gateball TV http://gateball.tv/. Gateball TV is a new portal for viewing gateball matches online.

Gateball TV provides a step-up in the number of matches available to view online and is a useful resource for comparing tactics, techniques and overseas playing conditions. Video from all 119 matches in the featured competition are currently available. It is expected the site will continue to be updated for future competitions, The website is in Japanese but is easy to navigate as outlined below.

Guide to Gateball TV

Home page
The home page includes (1) a link to videos of the 119 tournament matches and (2) a summary video of the featured tournament.

Competition matches
After clicking on the link to the tournament matches users can navigate through and view individual games. To watch a match click on the button (D) below the score. Matches are divided into first round blocks (A), second round blocks (B) and the knockout rounds (C) which determined the tournament winner.

Of interest to Australian readers will be that more Japanese players are transitioning to the between the legs, croquet style, which was first introduced to gateball by Australian players and has been adopted with great success by other countries including the current world champions from China.

Gateball Scores

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Maggi Williams

Scores from the Caloundra Gateball Tournament [Teams & Doubles] are recorded on the Gateballscores website and you can view these and other results here.

It would be appreciated when clubs hold a gateball competition that the Gateballscores website is utilised. In this way gateball players from anywhere in the world can view the results.

By using Gateballscores it alleviates the creating, setting up and producing a scorecard grid result sheet, thus allowing people to save time and effort.

Our appreciation goes to Tim Murphy for setting up this valuable utility for gateball players to use.

https://gateballscores.com

Bruce McAlister
Gateball Director, Queensland

Indoor Gateballs Available for Loan

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Maggi Williams

Gateball Australia now has a set of indoor gateballs available for clubs to borrow to promote the game.

Clubs interested in using the balls should contact Bruce McAllister, Qld State Director, or the National Director on info@gateball.com.au. The balls are currently being held in Qld where a set of indoor gates is also available for loan.

It is hoped that clubs will borrow the balls for periods of several weeks and make bookings at local sports halls. If these sessions were held in the evenings they could represent an opportunity to promote the game with potential players who are not available at other times.

Clubs who wish to borrow the balls are asked to have thought about how they will use them to grow our game. At the end of the loan period it would be great if a post could be made to this website describing the experience. Whoever borrows them would also be responsible for returning them to an agreed person. Clubs that loan the balls are, of course, responsible for the safe return of all the balls in a reasonable condition.

The game is not quite the same because the balls have a tendency to spiral to the right or left at the end of their course. Players in the Blue Mountains decided to play on a smaller court as long sparks were harder. However, the balls have been great on cold wet mountain days and will give us a back-up when gateballers lose the current lawn. Keith McLeod has played indoor games in Hong Kong, while the Southport club have used them to support the programs they run with school students.

Feedback about the use of the balls and comments on their use would be very welcome.

2015 Australian Gateball Championship – Photo Competition

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Glen Whitehead

A unique feature of the 2015 Australian Gateball Championship was Australia’s first gateball photo competition. The Australian gateball community strongly supported the event with 85 entries received. The top thirty photos were displayed during the weekend with peoples votes deciding the winner.

The winning photo was Is that a proposal on Gateball Court by Glenda Gutierrez who won a $100 voucher from VideoPro. Small Boy and a Big Hoop finished second while Brass Monkey Weather in Blackheath placed third. A big thank you to Frances Wregg for organising the competition.

The finalists are published below (in no particular order) as well as some commendations that didn’t make the final 30. Click on the photos to view a larger version and you can discuss your favourite in the comments below.

Finalists

No 2 in the Middle

Mallet in the Sky

Technique Pays Off

Nailed it!

Start of the Day

Hmm let me think about this

Three Countries Six Fingers

All Seasons

The International Game of Friendship

A New Breed of Gateballers

Sparking

Nearly Done

Is that a proposal on the gateball court?

Playing under the Bridge at Nagoya

Is it a flamingo?

WGC Shanghai

Line me up please

Brass Monkey Weather in Blackheath

Colin exchanges his mallet for a shovel

Macau Asian Games 2012

Lee at the World Champs Japan 2014

A Perfect Day

As Straight as a Die

Come Rain Come Shine

Exhausting

Eye on the Ball

Where are the Red Ones

Small Boy and a Big Hoop

The Winning Shot

Yes!

Honourable Mentions

2015 Australian Gateball Championship

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Glen Whitehead

The Australian Gateball Championship were held from 4-6 September in sunny Wynnum, Brisbane. 17 teams were separated into two blocks before semi-finals and a final decided the champions.

Block A
Chongqing, China
Toowoomba, Qld
Canberra Sparkers, ACT
Southport, Qld
NSW Country
Broadbeach, Qld
Ipswich Snoopys, Qld
Eildon, Qld
Jiangsu Kunshan, China

Block B
Shandong Dongming, China
Southern Stars, Vic & SA
Taipans, Qld
Kiwis, NZ
Canberra Mavericks, ACT
GLAMBJETS, Qld
Blue Macs, Qld
NSW Coast

Tournament results were updated at the newly developed https://gateballscores.com/.

Friday and Opening Ceremony
Joan Pease MP opened the tournament by scoring the ceremonial gate.

International Team Profiles

Chongqing, China
Chongqing is a large city at the source of the Chongqing River. Gateball is very popular in this city and some players in this team coach school children. This year, they coached the team which became Chinese school champions.

Jiangsu Kunshan, China
The players from this team come from a prosperous area, where there are many world famous factories, such as Adidas and Nike. Gateball is very popular here and every town in the province has a specialist Gateball facility, whether for indoor or outdoor Gateball. International competitions are held here.

Shandong Dongming, China
The team from Shandong is known in China as a very strong team. The region they come from is a rural region, far from big cities, so the team has made a very long journey to come here. The team is made up of older players and is sponsored by their local government, who have a responsibility to encourage older people to remain healthy.

Kiwis, New Zealand
This team is made up of ‘enthusiastic amateurs’. What they lack in experience they make up for in good looks! They may well be the dark horse of the tournament, because they have the ‘never say die’ Kiwi attitude.

Australian and New Zealand Team Photos

Sunday Photos and Update

Semi-final 1 saw Chongqing (China) knocked out the final remaining Australian side, the Canberra Mavericks, in a tight match 12-9.

Semi-final 2 saw Shandong Donming (China) defat Jiangsu Kunshan (China) 11-8, after taking the lead on their final turn.

The final was played in front of a crowd of 100 with Chongqing defeating Shandong Donming 10-7.

Congratulations to all competitors and to the Wynnum Club for hosting a wonderful event.