Europe

Palant (Poland)

Palant (Poland)

  • Name of sport (game): Palant
  • Name in native language: Palant
  • Place of practice (continent, state, nation):

    Poland – one of the most interesting places where its traditions have been preserved, in an interesting local form, is Grabów near Łęczyca (Łódź Province), where there is a special feast, called “Palant Feast”, organized every year; other places: Cyprzanów, Warsaw, Cracow, Rzeszów, Gdansk, Słubice (Polish Champion in palant with trainings every week), in the past also Lublin, and other places, also abroad – the number of places is constantly increasing, thanks to the development and promotion of Palant by Polish Palant Association.

  • History:

    The word “palant” is derived from the Italian word pallante and since the Middle Ages it meant
    “a ball player”.
    The sources of the game of Palant in Poland date back to the Middle Ages. Over the centuries, it has developed not only in Poland, constituting an interesting, physical, team form of playing with the use of a ball and a stick.
    According to some historical sources, Palant had a significant influence on the development of American baseball. Polish emigrants were supposed to bring it to America at the beginning of the 17th century. In the centuries that followed, the game and its many variations continued to evolve around the world.
    In the 20th century, Palant was still popular in Poland. Especially in Silesia, where regular competitions were held. There was even a Palant league, this sport was practiced in schools and serious works were written about it.
    After the second world war, even the Polish championships began to be organized, and in 1957 the Polish Palant Ball Association was established. In the 1960s, a doctoral thesis was written on the forms of playing Palant in Poland, presenting a very high scientific level. Its author was Zofia Dowgird.
    However, after these events, Palant started to be criticised. Some representatives of the press and academic circles were considering Palant as a secondary topic – not worthy to be treated seriously. Communist authorities were also trying to destroy traditional Polish culture. In many other countries, in which there are similar sports, this would be unthinkable.
    As a result of this criticism, Palant began to lose its importance in Poland. The Polish Palant Ball Association was changed to Polish Baseball and Softball Association. Urbanization and industrialization, and consequently, fewer and fewer natural squares for playing Palant, led to the fact that this Polish sport with a centuries-old tradition began to disappear, and the word “palant” acquired a negative meaning (literally translating: “a jerk”). Such a situation in the United States or England would be difficult to imagine. In 2014, Polish Palant Association was created with the mission of reinventing Palant (it is described in more details below). There are also plans to create International Federation of Palant soon.

  • Description:

    The basics:
    Palant is a sport from a big family of “bat and ball games”.
    The basic aim is to hit the ball with a wooden stick (around 60 cm long), called a palant or a palestra, into the field, and then to run to the next “bases” as soon as possible. The task of the hitting player is to run all the four bases and come back to the first base, called “the nest” (in Palant it is called “zapłot”).
    At the same time, the players of the opposing team try to catch the hit ball and hit the running rival with it. If he/she is hit between bases, this player is eliminated from this round. If the player is hit between bases, he/she is also eliminated. Three such situations cause the change of sides between teams.
    If the ball hits the “hell” (piekło) square, play continues until either the player is knocked between bases or it is thrown over the starting line towards “hell”, then play is stopped and if the player has not reached the next base, he returns to the previous base. The defenders can pass the ball between themselves, while the attacker cannot deliberately touch the ball in play - if he/she does it intentionally, there is an automatic change of sides.
    Attacking players can't run out of “hell” zone either - then there would also be a change of sides.
    The pitch is 20 meters wide x 50-60 meters long. You need to draw there the bases for two different zones: “Niebo” (eng. “Heaven”) and “Piekło” (eng. “Hell”).
    There is a no time-restriction game. A match is divided into 1 to 7 Rounds (with 2 to 14 changes of sides).Their number is determined by the agreement (level, type of match etc.). Normally, during the tournaments, there are 2 rounds: each team hits the ball twice.

    The players:
    Participants are divided into two teams of 7 to 15 players. The optimal number for one team is 8 players and there are such teams playing during the tournaments. The games are played with mixed teams (girls + boys) – a minimum of two girls in one team (since 2024, there will be a minimum of three girls required).
    The basic course of the game (one run):
    1 Game – one team hits the ball with the bat, the other team defends by catching the balls and trying to hit the opponents or to throw the ball to the base no. 1 before the attackers reach the bases number 2-4 (they can also kick the ball, trying to reach the base no. 1).
    2 Change – the teams change sides and roles.

    The pitch:
    The pitch is divided into Bases (see the chart below):

    pole gry

    Source: Polish Palant Association: https://www.palantpowraca.pl/

    BASE NO.1
    We start the game here. A maximum of 2 people can stand here. A third person from the same team, standing here, means an automatic switch of sides between teams.
    BASE NO. 2
    BASE NO.3
    BASE NO. 4
    We end the game here. Upon getting to this base, the player scores a point.
    5 HITTING FIELD
    The attacking player stands here, holds the bat with one hand, tossesthe ball with the other hand and hits it with a bat into the Catching Zone ( “Piekło”, eng.“Hell”). Every player has 3 attempts. You can use all of them, but you don't have to do that.
    6 CATCHING ZONE (“PIEKŁO” (“HELL”))
    In this area, the hitting players try to reach bases and the defending team (catchers) try to stop them, by catching the hit ball and throwing back to the zone, called “Niebo” (eng. “Heaven”, see the chart), throwing the ball at the running runners (only these ones who are not touching the bases in this moment) or catching the ball (preferably) with one hand.
    7 SIDE FIELD (OUT)
    • if the first contact of the ball is in this area after the hit –this ball is incorrect,
    • but when the first contact of the ball after the hit is in the Catching Zone and the next hit is in the Side Field, we keep playing – the ball is correct.
    8 ZAPOLE (“HEDGING”)
    Perfect hitting the ball – it landed beyond the last line! The game is stopped! All players, situated at the bases, go to base 4. It is called “zapłot” if the ball is beyond the last line and between the side lines.
    9 A FIELD FOR ELIMNATED PLAYERS
    10 QUEUE OF IMPRESSION
    Determined before the start of the run. The player can do maximum of 2 runs, i.e. to get 2 points. The second turn depends on the order in which you reach the Base no. 4.
    + BASE NO. 3 (blue) TEAM IS PICKING (SCORING POINTS)
    + BASE NO. 3 (red) TEAM IS CATCHING (DEFENDING THE SCORING POINTS)

    Running of the game:
    Team of “Heaven” is placed in front of the “Heaven” line and team of “hell” is placed on the field.
    The hitting team (“Heaven”) tries to keep as long as possible the “Heaven” field. To do so, their players are hitting the ball with the bat as far as possible and afterwards they runto reach another bases (from no. 1 to no. 4). Each time you reach a base no. 4, you get one point.
    The team in the field of “hell” aims to conquer “Heaven”. To this end, they try to catch the hit ball in their hands as soon as possible and throw it back to the “Heaven” field or to hit the player who is running to reach the bases to stop as many players as possible.
    If the defending player catches the ball with one hand, it is a fault and the batsman is out, he/she can no longer bat. If there is a catch in two hands or a foul in one hand, the game continues.

    When to switch sides?
    Teams switch sides when:
    • The attacking team commits 3 mistakes, e.g.:

    • a player, who is running to reach to the bases, is hit with the ball by defending players – this player is eliminated,
    • one-handed catch (in Polish “Kampa” or “Chytek”) by one of the defending players– result: elimination of the attacking player,
    • no proper hitting the ball by an attacking player in 3 attempts – he is not eliminated, but he/she goes to the first base.

    • There are more than 2 people in the base no. 1.
    • There are no players left in the attacking team to hit the ball.

    Ending of the game:
    The game ends after the predetermined number of rounds (1 to 7). The winner is the team with more points earned for reaching to the base no. 4.

  • Current status:

    Palant, as a well-deserved, traditional Polish sport, has not disappeared for good. One of the most interesting places where its traditions have been preserved, in an interesting local form, is Grabów near Łęczyca (Łódź Province) - more about this feast can be find here: https://inspirowanysportem.pl/palant-i-jego-historia/ (this is in Polish but it can be easily translated with the help of online tools).
    In 2014, the Polish Palant Association (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Palantowe (PSPal)) was created in Warsaw, which aims to recreate the game of Palant, by promoting it, educating and training the young generation of Palant players, restoring classes in schools, organizing competitions and trainings in this sport, establishing and cooperating with other Palant associations in Poland and abroad etc.
    For this purpose, Polish Palant Association organizes, among others, international tournaments in Palant and promotes this traditional Polish sport in the media. Thanks to these activities, this sport is once again more and more known at the local, national and even international level.
    An interesting initiative of the Association in this context is the action Palant powraca (Palant returns) – organizing open trainings, matches and demonstrations of the game in various places in Poland and inviting famous people from the world of sports, television, show business, etc. to participate in them. They also organize, among others, Polish Champions every year, The Polish Cup and many such events.
    The Palant ball club was also established in a town of Cyprzanów just after the first world war.
    Palant is also played, among others, in a city of Lublin. Since 2008, numerous initiatives have been organized here, related to the promotion of this sport, as well as other Polish traditional sports.
    Paland is also played in Słubice. The team from this town has won Polish Championships. They organize trainings very week.

  • Importance (for practitioners, communities etc.):

    Palant has been a Polish traditional sport since at least 500 years. It was the most popular Polish sport before the second world war. There were regular competitions in this game. It was
    a part of school physical education and was regularly played by people in their free time. After the above-mentioned criticism of the press and some academics, its popularity has significantly decreased. However, thanks to the above-mentioned activities of, among others, Polish Palant Association, this Polish, traditional sport is returning and regaining its popularity. It is again treated as an important part of Polish national and cultural heritage. Thanks to numerous initiatives, it has a chance to be again a Polish national sport – and not only sport, but an element of Polish culture.

  • Contacts:

    Polskie Stowarzyszenie Palantowe (Polish Palant Association
    Tel. 608 404 030
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    Web: www.palantpowraca.pl 
    Fb: https://www.facebook.com/Palant/

     logo Polskie Stowarzyszenie Palantowe

  • Sources of information :

    Video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLVUfRyYDZ8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_E776zKjs

     

    Source of photos used in this article and gallery: Polish Palant Association, www.palantpowraca.pl 

  • Gallery:

Contact

logo bez tla fundacja

Fundacja IRSiE

30/63, Świętokrzyska street
Warsaw, 00-116

traditionalsports@sportinstytut.pl

logoTW

logoYT