WPH Press, 2/7/21
The WPH has proudly presented the Race 4 Eight Sunday Stats since the start of the pandemic, highlighting the Race 4 Eight’s greatest champions, longest winning streaks, greatest accomplishments, tournament directors, nicknames, obscure stats, handball’s origins and history, and so much more. This Sunday we’ll focus on Australian 3-Wall handball.
Australian 3-Wall started formally in 1923, with earlier versions of the game starting in the 19th century. The Australian Handball Council was formed in 1928, which runs the various Australian 3-Wall championships.
Comparing Australian 3-Wall handball to U.S. 3-Wall handball
- Australian 3-Wall is the supersized version of American 3-Wall – the dimensions of an American 3-Wall court are 40×20, whereas the dimensions of the Australian court are 60×30
- In American 3-Wall, the long line (40 feet) serves as the backline – if the ball does not land on or before the backline, the ball is “out.” In Australian 3-Wall, the ball can travel past the long line, as long as the ball stays within the confines of the side walls, meaning the ball could travel 40 feet (or more) beyond the long line and still be in play
- The Australian 3-Wall ball is roughly the same size as the U.S. small ball handball, but considerably softer, making the ball play slower
- In traditional U.S. 3-Wall, players must stand inside the service box, not allowing either foot to exit the confines of the service box until the serve has crossed the service line. In Australian 3-Wall, the server can stand inches from the front wall when serving, with some players almost hitting their serving hand against the front wall on their service follow through
Some information from this Sunday Stats obtained HERE
David Fink
WPH Patreon Historian