Football, the world’s most popular sport was invented by Walter Camp, a medical student in 1869 in the United States. James Naismith, a thirty year old Canadian American, an instructor in physical education invented basketball in 1891 also in the United States. Volleyball was founded by William George Morgan, born in 1870 in New York. Table Tennis was created by an English fam, J. Jaques and sons at US. While Walter Wingfield invented lawn tennis in 1873 in the UK.
All the internationally recognized sports in the world were invented by creative and imaginative brains more than a century ago. And so it is that in 2017, in continuation of such inventions, a new sport has been born in Numan, Adamawa State. It is called Loofball. The sport is invented by a brilliant youth, Winner Vidiyeno Matahula. Matahula holds a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Benin. He is an indigene of Numan Local Government, born in a small village of Nzoruwe.
Loofball has many features of volleyball. The same way as table tennis and lawn tennis are similar. Loofball is a sport played by two teams of five players on each side separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by shooting the ball over the net to the ground within the pitch on the opposite side.
A difference between Volleyball and Loofball is that in Volleyball, it’s a foul for a player to hold the ball even for a second, whereas in Loofball, the player is free to hold the ball for up to three seconds, before either passing it to a teammate or shooting it over the net to land it on the ground on the other side. However, a rule in Loofball stipulates a particular spot on the pitch where a player is expected to land the ball to score a valid point.
Another difference between Volleyball and Loofball is in the design of the balls. The ball played in Loofball is rather smaller in size with a hairy surface.
In the short history of Loofball, it is fast becoming a popular sport among the youths. The first inter-club competition took place at GSS Numan between 26th September and 2nd October, 2018. The tournament was witnessed by a crowd among which were important dignitaries. Professor Wonotanzokan Tagowa who also witnessed the competition decorated the players with medals.
Pictures speak louder than words. Here are few pitures of the new sport, loofball.
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| Typical game of Loofball |
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| Players set for a Loofball match |
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| Players down to business |
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| Players excited for scoring a point |
