Wisping

Bats, balls, and boats.

"Hey, kid, watch out! That ball is he-...Yep, you found it. With your face."
- A Wisping judge

Created by a group of bored friends one day, Wisping has grown to be quite a popular water sport, challenging the swimming and balance capabilities of its players. Despite the intense physical requirements for competitive play, it rivals Alchemy Juggling for popularity. It isn't for weak swimmers though, as there have been incidents of drowning due to mishaps in the water.

How to play

Wisping is played by a total of eight people, each competing against one another in a rotation.
Players decide who starts first by drawing sticks, with the one who picks the smallest becoming the initial batter. The other players then take up their positions in whatever body of water is large enough for them to use, usually a lake, while on their canoes or other preferred single occupant water vessel. Four of them create a diamond with the points roughly twenty-five feet apart, while one acts as a judge, another as the bowler, and the final as a rescuer.
The judge and the rescuer do not participate in the scoring of points, they are responsible for making sure no rules are violated, and that no one drowns. They stay behind the batter position on their own vessel. The bowler is also not capable of scoring points and holds the position to ensure consistency of throws.
The bowler then throws a roughly apple sized ball towards the batter, who then has to hit it as hard as they can, dive into the water, and attempt to swim around the diamond, contacting each point before proceeding to the next one. If they succeed in doing this before the bowler makes it from their center point to the rearmost point and then to the batters starting position, they gain a point. If they are unsuccessful, they simply do not gain a point.
The batter then relieves one of the pointmen, usually done in a clockwise fashion to prevent favouritism of some sort. After each of the pointmen have garnered a turn, the ones who managed to gain a point advance to a second round. The second round is near identical to the first, except the batters are only the ones who gained a point in the previous round. This continues until one person becomes victorious, either due to forfeit or lack of stamina from the opponents.

Equipment

Though no safety equipment is used on the pointmen, bowlers, or batters, there are regulations for the bat, ball, and water vessel.
The bat must be at minimum two feet long and no more than two inches past that. It must also be made out of varnished oak, to prevent water damage and ensure sturdiness.
The ball must be made out of leather, the exact type does not matter, and must be enchanted to return to the bowler after no more than two minutes. This is to ensure no balls are lost. To be recognised as the bowler of the ball, the person must squeeze the ball four times in three second intervals. If the ball has no recognised bowlers, it will return to its homebox, which is where it must be housed inbetween Wisping games.
The water vessels that the pointment, bowler, and batter use must either be a standard single occupant canoe, or other similar water vessel. The dimensions for the vessel must be seven feet in length and no more than one and a half feet in width, as well as having a sturdy base to ensure adequate purchase while standing. The material required for these vessels is usually thick, oiled canvas wrapped around a timber frame, but can be completely timber.

Rules

Wisping has few rules to violate as most scoring rules are easily known and policed by the judge. However, there are behavioural rules, such as not throwing the ball at pointmen or directly at any sensitive areas of any participants, as well as not using the bat for violent outbreaks. These are generally seen as points of common sense. Anyone in violation of these rules is disqualified from the game.