PALA CNTABRA APUNTES BSICOS

THE GAME OF PALAS

On Santander Beaches it is common to see some palas players playing this game throughout whole year. The game is played by a minimum of two players and a maximum of five players. This is a cooperative game because the purpose of the game is to keep the ball in the air by hitting it for as long as possible. So we enjoy when we play together and do some exercise. There are no winners, nor losers. There are two rules in the game: The parador or pared who has their back to the wall and the pegador or tirador. The pegador is going to hit the ball hard so the parador will have to react like a wall and pass the ball softly. The game ends with a cole, thats the way in Santander people say to take a bath in the sea.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE GAME

Its said that this game was created by Mariano Prez in 1928 more or less, in the Magdalenas Beach, closet or the Tennis club. They started playing tennis in the sand with old raquets. As the strings didnt last too much Mariano decided to Guild up a wood paddle and they start playing the actual game of palas without bouncing the ball. Its is not a competitive game and the purpose of the game is just to enjoy and do some exercise. The objective is to last as much as possible with the ball in the air. Another explanation of the origin of this game comes from Gustavo Gallardo and his friend Jose Mara Avendao. This rich man went to Biarritz and saw a game in which players played a game with a wood paddle. He copied measures of the paddle and brought it back to Santander. It was in Piquio the first Beach where this game took place for the first time.

MATERIALS

THE PADDLE: It is made of beach wood. There are two shapes: Pera shape and sartn shape. THE BALL: It is placed with a tennis ball.

STYLES
There is not a concrete style. There are as many styles as people play this game. Despite there are many different styles, we can see a basic pose: BASIC POSE: Legs will be a bit separated, feet parallel, knees slightly bent, body a bit forward flexed and a bit of general tension. The paddle will be taken in both hands in the reverse position.

GAME AREAS
Most of the players of palas play the game at the Sardinero beaches. Some others play it in the Camello Beach.

These are the three areas where palas are placed in Santander:

Zona de Piquio

Zona del Rhin

Zona de la Concha

Zona del Camello

PADDLE ANTI-MANUAL
Next ten points talk about what a real palas player shouldnt do. Its a bit funny but true at least: 1 Llamar a la pala: raqueta o paleta . 2 - Jugar con palas de contrachapado o plstico y pelotitas de plstico o goma. 3 - Peor an: Jugar con raquetas de "padel", tenis o bdminton. 4 - Jugar con bote en la arena hmeda, o en el agua.

5 - Marcar la pista de juego en la arena. 6 - Improvisar una red de cualquier tipo. 7 - Jugar a volea (con mucha parbola y con ritmo lento). 8 - Llevar cuenta del tanteo. 9 - No baarse tras la partida. 10 - Combinar varias de las actitudes anteriormente sealadas.

If you disobey the ten commandments... congratulations!

PLAYING PALAS AT SCHOOL

The game of palas will improve the strength and endurance to strength, flexibility, (static and dynamic), Speed and coordination (mainly eye-hand). Here we offer you some advices to improve faster, pay attention to it: 1. Pay as much attention as possible when you practice. You will need a bit of general tension. 2. Basic Pose: remember to be in this pose while you are playing. 3. Your arm and wrist need some time to warm up. It is normal play worse in the beginning of the game. Dont worry about that. 4. Control the strength. In 1 ESO you will be closer (3 m) between you. In following years, you will increase this distance little by little.

5. Less control over the ball, less distance between you. Once you are able to control the ball you can increase little by little the distance till 6-7 mts. 6. Increase the power when you improve the control over the ball, and if you partner is good enough. 7. Dont try to play atack-defense with a low level. In the beginning it`s enough to play continuously without losing control of the ball.

8. The role of parador is more difficult than the pegador. 9. When you are playing with your mate on your side, be closer between you. You must cover the space there is between.

10. In the exam choose someone who plays well so you will do it also better.

This information is all available on the web: http://www.pululandia.net/palas/index.html where you can also find some more other questions.

I.E.S. EL ASTILLERO DPTO. EDUCACIN FSICA KEEP ON MOVING, PLEASE!