Picigin () is traditional ball game from

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

that is played at the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

. It is an amateur sport played in

shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

or other shallow water, usually consisting of cooperating players keeping a small ball from falling in the water.

Origin

Picigin originated on the sandy beach of Bačvice in Split. It was first played in 1908 by a group of Croatian students returning from

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

who were finding it difficult to play the game of

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

in shallow water. Instead, they began playing a different game which would come to be known as picigin.

Game characteristics

The game involves several players in a circle batting around a small ball with their hands; the objective is to keep the ball in the air and out of the water for as long as possible. Players are not allowed to catch the ball, but bounce it around with the palm of the hand to others. As such, the game somewhat resembles net-less

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, but it is played with a much smaller ball, usually a

tennis ball A tennis ball is a small, hollow ball used in games of tennis and real tennis. Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow in Professional sports, professional competitions, but in Amateur sports, recreational play other colors are also used. Tennis bal ...

stripped of

felt Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic fiber, acrylic or acrylonitrile or ...

. There is no set number of players, though five is usually average and customary. The game calls for

agility Agility or nimbleness is an ability to change the body's position quickly and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. More specifically, it ...

as there is a lot of jumping and leaping involved in order to reach the ball in certain situations. As all players cooperate, the game by default is considered a non-competitive sport with no scoring system.

Rules

Since picigin is an amateur sport, there are no strict or formal rules, but it is played according to general tradition with little variation. The main goal in the most popular variant is to keep ball in the air without it falling in the water for as long as possible. In some game variants, a player is only allowed to touch the ball once or twice before passing it on to others, as in

Players

There is no limit on the number of players, but the game is usually played with five players who stand as to form points of a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

-like shape. There are two traditional player roles or positions – ''sidrun'' and ''trkač''. Two ''sidrun'' (pl. ''sidruni'',

Chakavian Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmatia, Istria, Croatian L ...

Croatian for "

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

") players remain anchored to their position and ensure that ball passing is stable while the other three players play as ''trkač'' (pl. ''trkači'', Croatian for "runner"), tasked with chasing after and saving loose balls. The game does not call for any physical characteristics for either role, but ''trkač'' roles are optimally taken up by more agile players with higher stamina while ''sidrun'' role calls for above average

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For an example of vertical extent, "This basketball player is 7 foot 1 inches in height." For an e ...

Terrain

As picigin often sees players jumping and landing on their body, it requires a soft surface in

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

or other shallow water to be played as intended without possibility of serious injury; this is usually a shallow sandy beach. Preferred depth is roughly ankle-deep for all players as to not greatly hinder movement.

Ball

Picigin is played with various small balls. However, the traditional ball, called ''balun'' (Chakavian Croatian for "ball") is actually a

that has been stripped of its

and polished off a few millimeters. As such, the ''balun'' is smoother, lighter and bounces more easily than a normal tennis ball.

Tradition

The most traditional players believe it to be impossible to play picigin anywhere but on the sandy beach of Bačvice in

, which is considered the game's spiritual home. Picigin is played on Bačvice year round and, often at night in the summer (reflectors can be used in the dark). There is also a longstanding tradition of playing picigin on

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

regardless of weather conditions, when the sea temperature is rarely above 15

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius temperature scale "Celsius temperature scale, also called centigrade temperature scale, scale based on 0 ° for the melting point of water and 100 ° for the boiling point ...

. In June 2008, picigin was pronounced a

n immaterial cultural good, for a period of three years, with pending plans for a permanent designation. That status was confirmed in 2013. In September 2023, the

centennial A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

of picigin at Bačvice beach was commemorated with an unveiling of

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

Championships

Since 2005, the Picigin World Championship () is organized every year on Bačvice beach in Split.Na Bačama održano sedmo Prvenstvo svita u piciginu
Until 2008, players were given a task to do certain jumps, but from 2008, the winner is selected according to the artistic impression of a whole group.

Publications

*Vladan Papić, Ivan Granić & Hrvoje Turić: ''Picigin kao vodeni sport: početno istraživanje'', scientific paper published in Acta Kinesiologica

References

External links

{{commons category, Picigin
Picigin siteBačvice, Split
Ball games Water sports Croatian games Sport in Croatia Sport in Split, Croatia