22875: YLamour: Re: KARE (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: YLamour@aol.com

Thanks a great deal for responding so promptly, Oreste.

Kare is a relatively smaller version of soccer with the ball played in space
instead of on the ground. I spent my early childhood in Cap-Haitien where
young boys like me (and some "daring young girls" at times) would play kare hours
after hours with no apparent signs of tiredness. I was very good at it and
played it a lot as you can imagine. By contrast, when my family moved to
Port-au-Prince, kids in my new neighborhood had never even heard of Kare. They knew
about 'chenè' and certain boys could even do 200-300 chenè at once. But the
challenging game of kare was not known among them. Indeed, chenè is the
fondamental skill to master before one can begin to play and enjoy kare. 'Teknik' is the
Cap-Haitian notion for 'chenè'. I had the hardest time introducing the game
to my new friends in Carrefour; they were inexorably into the game called
'Match-tèt', which then was also unknown to me and my Cap-Haitian playmates. I made
countless attempts to teach kare to fellow Port-au-Princians and match-tèt to
fellow capois, unsuccessfully. Since my family's migration to the West of the
country was final,I had to learn to play match-tèt, regretably giving up kare
all at once. Apparently, kare has gained some international prestige and is
now being played at Olympics, having undergone some modifications, of course.
Let's see what you can say about the game.

Kare's rules and procedures are more or less the following:
-The ball is soft (made of an old sock filled with small amounts of corns,
beans, light small stones, or any materials that could balance the weight of the
ball)
-Knowledge of 'teknik' ('chenè' in the Port-au-Prince area) a must
-All parts of the body are used, except for the hands
-Hands are used at serving times only
-Two teams of one or two players for each game
-The field is a large rectangle divided into two equal squares
-The lines constituting the boundaries of the field are regulated by strict
rules
-The winning score is: 10
-Eliminatory scores are: 5-0, 6-1, 7-2, 8-3
-Roughness prohibited, absolutely no 'krèm' (known as 'mayi' in
Port-au-Prince)
-An umpire necessary, but mandatory
-No time limit for a game, except when several teams (up to 6) participate

Please add to the above list if you possess more information about Kare.

Yvon Lamour
Cambridge, Massachusetts