Welcome to my Ball Games of the World website.

Since the time of Galileo, the Italian physicist and astronomer, mankind has been fascinated by the sphere, whether it be the sun, the moon, Jupiter or Venus. As a representative of these spheres, man as well has always been fascinated by the ball; and find its traces in the vestiges of many ancient civilizations: Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Etruscan, Chinese, Mayan, etc.

In the world of sport, the activities of millions of athletes every day are focused on the mother sphere, in forms of bowls and bowling balls, hand balls, baseballs, basketballs, footballs, Basque pelota balls, tennis balls, polo balls, and volleyballs just to name a few.

Through constant training athletes endeavor to master this elusive object; they learn to hit it hard or, conversely, to caress it delicately and skillfully, to produce that mystifying effect that will throw their adversary off balance. Within this play, the concept of festival and spectacle are inseparable from this technical mastery, adding to all forms of the game a dimension which leads to a celebration with rites that are precisely defined in every instance.

The Ball Games of the World (BGW) website is the outgrowth of the BGW Exhibit; an exhibit of balls, equipment, artifacts, and posters on ball sports from all over the world. The website with video categorizes the ball sports as follows: bowls and bowling games, handball games, ball and bat games, racket and paddle games, football games, ball and raised goal games, volley and net games, invasion goal games, other ball games, and historic/ritual ball games. The website will illustrate each ball sport to include the ball, equipment used to play the sport, artifacts associated with the sport where appropriate, posters depicting each sport, and video clips showing the game in play. Much of the video was acquired from federation that governs the sport and often includes the history and development of the game. Other unique video comes from a variety of amateur home video, with some by the author. Finally, the website will include selected bibliography related to each sport by category.

The Ball Games of the World Exhibit and narrative/video presentation is available for presentation by contacting the curator, Dr. Ken Swalgin, Associate Professor of Kinesiology, Emeritus, Penn State University. Email: kxs1@psu.edu or cell (717) 801-2342