Tetraball

Tetraball was invented on Beta Antares IV in the 2360s, but it was not until the ITF was founded in 2383 that the sport began to gain interest on other planets. In 2392, eighteen planetary teams were selected to participate in the first professional league season. Since then, the game is spreading like wildfire.

The sport is played between two teams of fifteen players on a 45-meter square court, divided into 225 three-meter squares. The objective is to score a goal in each of the 225 squares, thereby claiming that square’s point value, while preventing the opposing team from doing the same. Teams start on opposite corners of the grid, and point values increase toward the middle of the court. A blank court has a total of 12,769 points up for grabs, and the game only ends when one team has claimed more than half of them–the so-called “magic target” of 6,385.

The game is played in two twenty-minute (or equivalent time period) halves, with a short 5-minute break for water. There are no time-outs allowed, unless a ball deflates or bursts, or an injured player must be carried off the court, so it's solid play for those on the court. Each team has two substitutes in case of injury. Any team player intentionally causing an injury is off the court for one minute, causing his team to play at a disadvantage, and the team is assessed five points. Consequently, this is a rare occurrence in Tetraball.

A team holding the ball for more than 30-seconds, without moving to score, turns the ball over to the opposing team. This makes for fast-paced play and good defense as well as offense. Both roles are played by the same 15-players for the entire game. An exhausting sport, Tetraball is for the young and few players are in the sport past the age of twenty-five. It will be interesting to see what happens if the game catches on with long-lived species!

The twelve incoming planetary teams, which include Andoria, Gideon, Rigel, and Trill, will compete in the new Beta League. The eighteen legacy teams will compete in the Premier and Alpha Leagues according to 2393's promotion and relegation rules. There is also a farm league forming, Gamma League, which will have 12 teams representing both sector teams and planetary teams. For the first time, participants outside the Federation will be competing.

The Gamma League playoffs will be held among 16 teams competing on Starbase 109 in the famous Tivoli Gardens. The Tetraball courts there are brand new, and ready to be broken in by some fine teams. Replacement players may be chosen by current teams from the farm teams, which will have more experience against a greater variety of opponents than the planetary home teams. It provides smaller planets who can't put together complete teams to send players to sector teams.