Greenwood Hosts First Ever Chit Lo Tournament
March 30, 2017
Chit Lo, or Sepak takraw, literally means “kick ball”. Not many American people have heard of this sport, but Greenwood High School is hosting the first Chit Lo tournament this Saturday, April 1.
Sepak takraw is a sport native to Southeast Asia; countries where the sport is played include Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines. The game is played on a badminton sized court, separated by a five foot net in the middle, and a ball woven traditionally of bamboo, but today made out of plastic. Two teams of three play each other to see who can get the most points by hitting the ball back and forth across the net.
In this way the game is very similar to volleyball, except for one major difference, the players can’t use their hands. They have to use their legs, heads, or torsos to hit the grapefruit sized ball to the opposing side of the court. Since the use of hands is illegal, the players use fantastic kicks and gravity defying flips to get the ball across the net.
Also similar to volleyball are the rules, each team gets three touches of the ball to get it to the other side without hitting the ground. The game is played in three sets, and whichever team wins two of the three sets is the winner. The first team to reach 21 points wins the set.
Greenwood’s Chit Lo tournament is being held in the gym at 1 p.m. by the International Club. Bu Reh, a junior at Greenwood, initiated the planning of the Sepak takraw tournament when “talking smack” with some of his friends from the International High School.There is an entrance fee of $2 and the money will go to support the International Club. Each team had to pay $30 to form their team and this money has also gone towards the International Club.
There will be six teams participating, composed of former students, current students, and students from the International High School.The tournament will be double elimination, having a winners bracket and a losers bracket. Each set takes around 10 minutes, making a game of three sets take around 30 minutes. Medals will be given to the first and second place teams.
Ms. Towe, an ESL English teacher and sponsor of the International Club, highly encourages students to come out to watch the tournament. “They’ve never seen anything like it, the athletics of the kids is amazing and it is a very entertaining game to watch. It is truly a spectator sport. It will also broaden students cultural awareness.”
Come out on Saturday at 1 to support our International club and to watch this unique and amazing sport take place!
