Handball! Read online

  About the Book

  ‘Do you want to give up?’ said Vinnie.

  ‘No way!’ Luca said. ‘I can beat you.’

  But he was starting to wonder if he could . . .

  Luca never loses at handball. But can he beat the Handball King?

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  ‘Who wants to play handball?’ Luca called, running out of class as soon as the bell went for recess.

  ‘I do,’ said Stefan.

  ‘I do,’ said Lucy.

  ‘I do,’ said Jacqui.

  ‘Great! I’m King!’ cried Luca, jumping into one of the four-square courts painted on the quadrangle.

  ‘Why do you get to start as King again?’ asked Lucy.

  ‘Because I’m the Handball Hero,’ Luca replied. ‘I’m the best in our grade.’

  Lucy jumped into the square next to him. ‘Stop bragging,’ she said. ‘One of us will beat you soon for sure.’

  ‘As if,’ said Luca.

  ‘I’m Queen,’ Lucy said.

  ‘And I’m Jack,’ said Jacqui. ‘Of course!’

  ‘I guess I’m Dunce,’ said Stefan. ‘But not for long.’

  ‘Watch and learn. You’re about to see the Handball Hero in action,’ Luca said.

  ‘Yep. That’s me!’ said Stefan, laughing.

  Luca pulled a face.

  ‘Bring it on!’ Stefan said.

  Luca let loose with a sizzling serve. It bounced in his square and into Lucy’s.

  It was an awesome shot. But Lucy lunged forward and hit it into Jacqui’s square.

  Jacqui hit the ball back into Luca’s square. He tapped it to Stefan.

  Then Stefan did his best shot – the Supersonic.

  He flicked his hand behind his back and tapped the ball through his legs.

  The ball bounced off Lucy’s foot.

  ‘You’re out, Lucy!’ shouted Luca. ‘This is handball, not football. Now you’re the Dunce.’

  ‘That was an awesome shot, Stefan,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Next time I’ll use it on the Handball Hero,’ said Stefan.

  ‘You just got lucky,’ said Luca. ‘That’ll never work on me.’

  Luca served again . . .

  But this time a Grade Six boy walked right into the middle of the game.

  It was the school’s best handball player – Vinnie Ping. His friends were standing behind him.

  ‘These are my squares,’ he said.

  Lucy, Stefan and Jacqui started to back away. But Luca didn’t.

  ‘No way!’ he said. ‘We were here first.’

  ‘Luca,’ said Lucy. ‘Let’s just go. We’ll find some other squares.’

  Luca looked around, but all the other squares were full. Even the wall was taken.

  ‘If you want these squares you’ll have to play against me,’ said Vinnie. ‘I challenge you to a two-square showdown.’

  He and his friends laughed.

  ‘He’ll wipe the court with you,’ said Jacqui.

  ‘You can’t win against a Grade Six kid,’ said Stefan.

  DING! DING! DING!

  The bell rang for the end of recess. But Vinnie leant forward. ‘You’re on! Prepare for the most epic loss of your life,’ he hissed.

  By lunchtime, everyone knew that Vinnie Ping the Handball King had been challenged to a showdown.

  A crowd gathered to watch.

  Luca took a deep breath.

  Lucy, Stefan and Jacqui looked nervous.

  And Vinnie smirked.

  ‘Best out of four games wins,’ Vinnie said. ‘You can have the first serve.’

  Luca served with his best shot. But before he could even get into position, Vinnie returned the ball just as fast.

  The ball bounced in Luca’s square and flew right past him. Luca didn’t even get a swipe at it.

  ‘Oh, yeah! Like a boss!’ gloated Vinnie, breaking out into robot dance moves.

  One of Vinnie’s friends ran after the ball and threw it back to him.

  ‘One game to me,’ Vinnie said. ‘Do you want to give up?’

  ‘No way!’ Luca said. ‘I can beat you.’

  But he was starting to wonder if he could.

  It was Vinnie’s serve. He tapped the ball. It bounced in his square and floated into Luca’s.

  This time Luca hit it!

  WHAAAAACK!

  The ball bounced high over the line and back into Vinnie’s square.

  He stepped in to the ball and hit it with his best move, the Lightning Sweep.

  No one could return the Lightning Sweep. But Luca tried – he dived for it, and missed.

  He scraped his knee, but he tried to ignore the pain.

  ‘Yes!’ said Vinnie, punching his fist in the air. ‘Two games to me. If I win the next game, it’s all over.’

  Vinnie served again. It was fast and low. But this time Luca hit the ball faster than ever before.

  Vinnie had to lunge for the ball.

  For a moment Luca thought he’d won the point. But Vinnie got his hand to the ball and hit it back.

  Luca returned it.

  Then Vinnie hit the ball so hard that when it bounced in Luca’s square it shot incredibly high.

  It flew right over Luca’s head. He ran back after it.

  Vinnie was sure that Luca wouldn’t make the shot. He stepped out of his square and started celebrating with his friends.

  But then something amazing happened.

  Luca stepped underneath the falling ball and hit it with all his might!

  The ball bounced once in Luca’s square and shot over into Vinnie’s empty square.

  Then it just dribbled to a stop.

  The crowd gasped and Vinnie looked back in shock.

  Luca could hear his friends cheering him on. He took a deep breath and served.

  Somehow he returned every shot that Vinnie hit at him. He was playing like he’d never played before.

  But then Vinnie hit another huge shot. It bounced straight up, just like the last time.

  This time Luca knew he couldn’t return it. And he knew Vinnie wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

  But Luca couldn’t give up.

  With one giant leap, he swiped at the ball with all his might.

  And hit it!

  FWWWWWOOOMMMP!

  The ball torpedoed back towards Vinnie on the full.

  Vinnie just stepped aside.

  The ball rocketed past him and out of bounds.

  Luca’s hit had way too much power behind it. Vinnie had won! Luca couldn’t believe it – losing felt terrible!

  The crowd was going wild.

  Even Luca’s friends were cheering. They rushed towards him.

  ‘That was amazing!’ Lucy yelled.

  ‘You were totally awesome,’ shouted Stefan.

  Jacqui hugged Luca so hard he nearly fell over.

  ‘What?’ said Luca. ‘But I lost the game.’

  Then Luca realised what the crowd was shouting.

  ‘Luca! Luca! Luca!’

  Everyone was going wild for Luca.

  And Vinnie was coming their way.

  ‘Watch out for some serious gloating,’ said Jacqui.

  Luca knew that if he’d won the game, he would never have let Vinnie forget it . . .

  ‘He’s probably going to do a victory dance,’ said Lucy.

  ‘He’s actually pretty scary,’ said Stefan.

  But Vinnie just smiled and threw Luca the game ball.

  ‘Hey, dude, that was unbelievable,’ he said. ‘I reckon when you’re in Grade Six you could be the Handball King.’

  ‘Wow, thanks!’ Luca said, stunned.

  ‘
Does that mean we can play here?’ asked Jacqui.

  ‘Anytime,’ said Vinnie, turning to join his mates. ‘Anytime!’

  ‘C’mon,’ said Jacqui. ‘We’ve still got time for a quick game.’

  ‘I guess you were right, Luca,’ said Stefan. ‘You are the Handball Hero.’

  ‘I guess I am,’ said Luca, walking to the King square. But then he stopped. ‘Your Supersonic shot was pretty awesome though, so I’d better watch out.’

  Stefan looked surprised, then grinned.

  ‘Long live the King!’ Luca shouted.

  At your school, you might call it handball or four square or downball, but whatever you call it you’ll need some serious skills to be the King.

  One of the coolest skills to practise is the super low pass, known as the Lightning Sweep – it’s almost impossible to return!

  But no matter how good you get, never forget that you can be King one minute and with one bad shot you’re out.

  Here’s how to hit a Lightning Sweep:

  Widen your legs and bend down as low as you can.

  After the ball has bounced in your square, let it drop as close to you as possible without letting it hit the ground again.

  Use a ‘sweeping’ hand motion to hit the ball forward – try not to pat-hit the ball and remember it has to bounce in your square first.

  Other skills to get you to the top square include the serve, the smash and Stefan’s Supersonic. So get out a ball at recess and have some fun, no matter what square you end up in!

  What do you do when you see a rampaging elephant with a handball?

  Get out of the way.

  What do you serve, but can’t eat?

  A ball!

  What kind of balls do dragons play handball with?

  Fireballs!

  How many handball players does it take to take out a light bulb?

  None! What do you mean it was OUT? It was in!

  Why did the handball player use a rope in the game?

  He wanted to tie the score.

  Why did the ballerina quit playing handball?

  Because it was tu-tu hard.

  Knock! Knock!

  Who’s there?

  Queen.

  Queen who?

  Queen up your square and let’s play handball!

  Did you hear about the cow that was a handball champion?

  She was udderly brilliant.

  Did you know?

  Handball is also called downball, squareball, bounceball, four square or two square.

  Handball can be played with any small-sized ball and the squares can be in any order.

  You can play handball anywhere, even against a wall.

  Each playground has different rules. The King can even make new rules up during the game!

  The main rules are if you scoop or hold the ball or let it bounce more than once in a square you’re out.

  Students from Needham High School in the USA hold the world record for playing handball non-stop for 34 hours straight.

  There is even a World Championship for adults – players from all over the world compete.

  No one really knows when handball was invented, but a game called King’s Corners is mentioned in books for children in the early 1900s.

  Handball is also the name for a team sport where players pass a ball around and throw the ball through goals.

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  whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  First published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd, 2016

  Text copyright © Red Wolf Entertainment Pty Ltd, 2016

  Illustrations copyright © Tom Jellett, 2016

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  Design by Tony Palmer © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  puffin.com.au

  ISBN: 978-1-76014-142-4

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