©Play AirBall, is tennis played using a football on a tennis court. Instead of using a tennis ball and racket, Play AirBall uses a football that is kicked, headed, etc over the net using a minimum number of consecutive touches and a set of simple rules. No hands allowed! Therefore, Play AirBall requires skill, focus, excellent communication & teamwork. Play AirBall is really great fun to play and extremly exciting to watch.

@Play Airball is a game for all abilities and ages. ©Play Airball is a mixed gender sport, therefore teams can be made up by both male and female players without requiring the same ratio of genders on each side, e.g. in a game of trio, 3 v 3, one side could be made up of 3 males playing against 2 females and a male.

©Play AirBall matches are officiated by a Referee.

Teams can consist of any number players who can safely fit on the court, however the recommended number of players per side is 2, 3 or 4 members.

A coin is tossed to decide which side serves first.

After a serve the ball must be kept in the air using anypart of the body except using the arms and hands.

Each player is allowed a maximum of 3 consecutive touches at which point the ball has to be touched by a team mate or by the opponent withouth the ball touching the ground.

The ball is allowed to touch the ground, by bouncing once, only immediatley after it’s touched by an opponent.

Players  can move around anywhere but must stay on their side of the court.

Once a team mate touches the ball, the 3 consecutive touches resets for his/her team mates, therefore an infinite number of passes is allowed on each side (note, each team stands an increasing chance of making a mistake and losing the point by keeping the ball on their side for too long).

The rally continues until one side fails to return the ball, therefore losing the point (see Scoring).

Remember: Once the ball is “In play”, (the ball is returned from a serve) players do not need to wait for the ball to bounce, however once a player touches the ball, the ball is not allowed bounce again on that side until the opponent touches the ball. (Remember each player has upto 3 consecutive touches and can only touch the ball after a teammate touches the ball, see Number of touches, above).

After each point the server serves to the next player in the sequence.

The Server must start from behind the baseline. Using a single kick, server kicks the ball over the net into the diagonal serving box on the adjacent side, to the ‘Receiving Player’.

The Server may kick-serve in any fashion they wish,  (i.e. kicking he ball from the ground, or holding the ball then allowing the ball to bounce first or a volley kick – the ball does not bounce.

The Server must serve each point from alternative sides on the baseline.

The First Serve is always from the right side of the court, to the opponents right side, knowing where you are serving from can help you remember the score, and vice-versa.

The serve has to be made at the baseline and the server can not step onto the court before the kick. It’s a “foot fault” if a player’s foot touches the Baseline or the Center line. 

When serving, the ball is allowed to be bounce inside the court but the server cannot step in the court before contact (the kick) with the ball. 

The server may only touch the ball once, i.e. one action.

The Receiver on the opposite side has to wait for the the ball to bounce once before touching the ball. This is the only time the ball must bounce first. Receiving player can touch the ball from a serve.

Once a good serve is received (see Serves) the ball is “live” and the rally begins.

After each point the server serves again until s/he has served to each player of the opposition.

After both teams have served to each member on the opposing team, the teams change (swap) ends.

Each server is allowed a “Second Serve” if their first serve fails to land in the Receiving Player’s serve box. If the Second serve fails to land in the Receivers serving box the Serving team loses he point.

A ‘Let Serve’ is when a served ball touches the net, strap or band, and still goes over the net and lands in the Receiver’s serving box.

A Let Serve does not count the previous serve and the Server serve’s again. However a Let Serve does not cancel the previous fault.

The Server can serve any number of Let Serves in a point and they are always treated as voids and not as faults.

The Receiver (player receiving the serve) must allow the ball to bonce first.

If the ball bounces in the serve box then it’s a good serve (unless ball touched the net first, see ‘Let Serve’) and the Receiver has a maximum of 3 touches and can play the ball back to the opposite side or can pass to a team mate, but the ball can no longer touch the ground (until the opponent touches the ball. See ‘How to Play AirBall’.

If the ball does not bounce in the receiving box then it’s called “out” and if it’s a first serve then the server serves again (second serve). If it’s already a secound serve then the Receiver wins the point.

The scoring system is the similar to tennis:
Each side needs to score four points to win a game. The points are known as:

No point – “Love”
First point – “15”
Second point – “30”
Third point – “40”
Fourth point – “Game” No point – “Love”, 15 (1 point), 30 (two points), 40 (three points) and the fourth would result in the winning the game.

If the scores go to 40-40 this would be known as ‘Deuce’. If the Server wins the next point the score is “advantage server”, or “ad in”. If the receiver wins the next point the score is “advantage receiver”, or “ad out”. If the player with “advantage” wins the next point they win the game. If the player without “advantage” wins the next point, the score reverts to “deuce”. The score can go back and forth from “advantage” to “deuce” until one player wins 2 points in a row.

The server’s score is always called first.

4 points = A Game

6 Games = A Set

Duo, 6 sets = Match
Trio – 5 sets = Match
Quad – 4 sets = Match

Winning a set is simply the first player to reach 6 games but has to be clear by at least 2 games. If your opponent wins 5 games you must win the set 7-5. If the set goes to 6-6 then a tie break is played and it’s simply the first player to 7 points.

LOSING/WINNING POINTS:
The point is lost for any of the following reasons.
 The server faults (see Serving ©Play AirBall)
A player touches the net whilst the ball is “ live” or in “play”
The player serves two consecutive faults or failures.
The player does not return the ball in play before it bounces twice.
The player touches a serve ball “live ball” before it bounces. 
The ball touches a players hand\s.
The player touches the ball more than 3 consecutive times before a teammate or opposition touches it.
The player plays the ball before it has passed the net.
The ball bounces on the same side after it’s touched by the player.

Teams are allowed up to 2 substitutes.
Teams are only allowed to substitute after a Set (see Sets)
Teams are allowed to be mixed
Teams do not need to have the same number of male or female player on each side.