Stické, also called stické tennis, is an indoor
racquet sport
Racket sports are games in which players use a racket or paddle to hit a ball or other object. Rackets consist of a handled frame with an open hoop that supports a network of tightly stretched strings. Paddles have a solid face rather than a net ...
invented in the late 19th century merging aspects of
real tennis,
racquets and
lawn tennis. It derives from (
Ancient Greek meaning "the art of playing ball"), the term originally given to lawn tennis by
Walter Clopton Wingfield
Major Walter Clopton Wingfield (16 October 1833 – 18 April 1912) was a Welsh inventor and a British Army officer who was one of the pioneers of lawn tennis.Tyzack, AnnThe True Home of Tennis''Country Life'', 22 June 2005J. Perris
(2000Grass ...
.
Manner of play
Stické is played with standard lawn tennis
racquets and low pressure balls in an enclosed court. The court is somewhat similar to a real tennis court in shape, but is smaller (about 78 feet by 27 feet) and different in construction. Play takes place using all the basics of lawn tennis and the same scoring system, with the addition of side and back walls. Players face each other over the net in pairs.
As in real tennis, there is a ''penthouse,'' used throughout the game as a playing surface and on which the service has to land to start each point.
Some courts have a penthouse only down the side, while others have a penthouse at both ends as well.
History
There were over 50 courts built throughout the
British Empire since 1875. The dimensions of the
Taplow Court built by
Lord Desborough in 1892 became the standard. In the early 20th century, stické was a popular recreation at many country houses. At the time it was one of the few games that was played by both men and women.
As of 2005 there are only three playable courts remaining:
*
Hartham Park in
Corsham,
Wiltshire (
England). Built in 1904 out of wood.
*
Knightshayes Court in
Tiverton,
Devon (England). Built in 1907 out of wood.
* Viceregal Lodge complex,
Indian Institute of Advanced Study
The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is a research institute located in Shimla, India. It was set up by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 1964 and started functioning from 20 October 1965.
History and establishment
The ...
,
Shimla,
Himachal Pradesh (
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
).
Both English courts have active player groups, with an exception of Knightshayes during August to November 2015. During this time, the court was used to present an exhibition on the First World War, as the stické court was used throughout both the world wars as wards for wounded soldiers when the estate was used as a military hospital. The Indian court is primarily used for
badminton.
A book about the sport, ''Sticke Tennis'' by Graham Tomkinson, was published in 2004.
A book ''The Rise and Fall of Sticke Tennis 1874-1939'' by Nigel Courtenay à Brassard, was published by Ronaldson Publications in 2017.
References
External links
Hartham Park Stické Clubhttps://www.sportshistorian.co.uk
'National Trust Knightshayes website'{{DEFAULTSORT:Sticke
Individual sports
Indoor sports
Ball games
Racket sports
Forms of tennis