Miniten (a

portmanteau word In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.) Israeli שלט ''shalát'' 'remote control', an ellipsis ...

, derived from mini+tennis) is a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

-like game created by

naturists Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

. It was devised in the 1930s, in order to provide a suitable game for naturist clubs which often lacked sufficient land to create full-sized tennis courts. The original rules were drawn up by Mr R. Douglas Ogden, a Manchester-based businessman with an interest in sporting activities. The rules and scoring are similar to tennis and standard tennis balls are used, but the court is much smaller, and instead of

racquet A racket or racquet is an item of sporting equipment used to strike a ball or shuttlecock in a variety of sports. A racket consists of three major components: a widened distal end known as the ''head'', an elongated handle known as the ''grip'' ...

s, players use

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

en bats known as ''thugs'', which are shaped like a box around the player's hand. The sport is run by the Amateur Miniten Association. ''Miniten: Rules of the Game'' was published in 2017 by Wolfbait Books. The book was illustrated by Colin Gordon.

References

Ball games Individual sports Nude recreation Sports originating in England {{ball-sports-stub