It is difficult to imagine a team sport in which there is not a minimum of physical contact. Not even volleyball, in which each team is separated by a net, is spared. However the tchoukball is an exception and was declared by Unesco as the ‘sport of peace’ precisely for this reason.
“It is the sport of peace because there is no physical contact between the players and a lot of respect is commanded. You will never see a player yell at a judge or allege any action that the judge calls for,” explains Rosario Robles, player and coach of the Colombian women’s tchoukball team, in a conversation with EL TIEMPO.
Although tchoukball is little known in the country, the Colombian Selection of Tchukball Forza Femenina It is emerging as a power of the discipline in the region. The athletes have already been to five Pan American Games, of which they have emerged champions on one occasion (Colombia, 2014) and runners-up on another (Mexico, 2016). In Brazil, last year, they were third.
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His most recent feat is having qualified, due to his results in Brazil, for the 2023 World Cup in the Czech Republic, which will take place in August. Nevertheless, They still do not have the necessary financial resources to go. They have organized events, taken to the streets to ask for support and implemented strategies on social networks to collect a total of 120 million pesos, but they are still far from the goal.
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Tchouckball: the sport of peace or ‘of the 3’
“It is a sport that integrates part of handball, volleyball and a sport called Basque ball., which is similar to squash. For example, in defense, when you kneel, it’s a bit similar to volleyball and the throw is similar to handball,” explains Lizceth Guerrero, who has been practicing tchoukball for 14 years and is part of the Colombian team.
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The sport was created in Switzerland in the late 1960s by Hermann Brandt, a biologist specializing in sports medicine who had a clear interest: creating a team discipline with which he could minimize contact injuries.
According to the International Tchoukball Federation (Fitb), fair play and respect for opponents is a fundamental part of how the game is played. Physical contact between players and interceptions are prohibited.
The athlete Guerrero affirms thatNormally the only injuries that occur are usually caused by a badly caught ball, since the fingers can be bent. However, there are no blows -with or without intention- among the athletes.
The sport is practiced in more than 80 countries, according to the Fitb. The organization highlights the speed and intensity with which the matches take place.
And how is it played?
“The idea is that the ball bounces off a frame (with mesh, similar to a trampoline) that is inclined, and ends up outside the prohibited area. If the ball touches the floor, it is a point for the one who is shooting. If the ball is caught, the game continues until it falls to the ground”, says Deisy Cañón, team captain.
And he adds: “Here there are only attackers and defenses; they can all be the same. Compared to football – in which one is a goalkeeper, one is a defender, one is a striker – here everyone can perform the same functions. There is no specific role.”
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On the playing field, which can be grass or cement, there are two teams of seven people. The frame in which the ball bounces measures 1 x 1 meters. The name of the sport, they say, comes from the sound that the ball makes when touching the net: Chuck!
Another peculiarity of the sport is that the teams do not defend a single framework and try to score points in the other. They can actually score on either of the two rebound boxes located on the playing field. Also, if a player misses after taking a shot, the other team gets a point. This works something like an “own goal”.
Tchouckball is also known as the ‘sport of 3’, since several of its rules are related to that number: the ball can only be held for three seconds, each team can make three passes, there is a chance to make three shots in the same frame, each game consists of three periods of 15 minutes, among other rules.
Yudy Moreno, another of the team’s players, highlights agility as one of the keys to the sport. “I feel like you have to be very agile to read the game. Your arms, your legs must be very agile to bend down, get up, throw. It is one of the most important skills in tchoukball,” she states.
Some of the world’s leading sports countries are Taiwan, Italy, Switzerland and Singapore, say the Colombians, who hope to face some of these teams between July 31 and August 5; That is, if they manage to gather the resources.
‘All our achievements have been sweated’
Despite its outstanding participation, the women’s team and tchoukball in Colombia do not have state funding. As Coach Robles explains, this is because the sport is not legally constituted in the country. That is to say, they still do not meet the requirements so that the Ministry of Sport can allocate resources for discipline.
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“What we have is an association that represents us internationally. Until tchoukball is recognized as a sport in Colombia, it is very difficult to make that transition from clubs to leagues and federations”, he points out. And he adds that, currently, they are looking for the International Federation to help them to start formalizing, at least, the clubs that already exist,
Another project they have is to create the Forza Femenina Foundation, as the team is also called. “Just like the powerpuff girls, we are Forza Femenina. We want to make the foundation now and also begin to expand women’s tchoukball in Colombia”.
For these reasons, since they are part of the team, she and the other players have paid for their participation in regional competitions with their own means. “All our achievements have been sweated, always leaving everything on the field”, says the player Yudy Moreno.
To attend the World Cup in the Czech Republic, according to what they say, the Colombians need to collect 120 million pesoswhich cover registration fees, tickets, food and clothing.
So far, they have collected about 10 million, which they have already used to pay the first two registration fees.
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The money has come from donations and from different activities that they have organized for several months: they have sold party tickets, they have toured different parts of Bogotá asking for support and they have organized small tournaments in which they also sell products to raise the money.
The athletes also have a Vaki in which they have received about 20 donations that add up to just one million pesos. The goal on that platform is to reach 60 or more million.
Participation in the international contest represents, for the coach, a great challenge and responsibility: “Because I have 12 dreams there behind me, and I have to answer for them and for eleven little people, apart from me, who also want to go to the World Cup”.
And about the prospects for Colombia’s participation, he says the following: “I can’t guarantee reaching the final, because it’s going to be very, very, very difficult, but we are going to do a very good performance with all the preparation we’ve been doing.” .
“We have never had that opportunity, it presents itself to us and it really is a dream to be able to go to compete”, says Lizceth Guerrero.
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Yudy, one of the youngest athletes on the team, agrees and highlights the sacrifices behind it: “It is known that sometimes it is very difficult to stand out in a sport. You have to practice a lot of time, you have to dedicate hours, leaving your friends, your family. I have fought a lot for this and for me it would be like the realization of a very big dream, of my efforts, of everything”.
YALENI SOLANO
ELTIEMPO.COM
