A Point
A point operates thus: At the start of the play, the server stands between the buttress and the front wall. The receiver, known as a 'cutter', stands in the backcourt, along with the other two players (the cutter's partner stands behind him, with the server's partner in the bottom right corner). The server throws the ball high so it bounces off the front and right wall, landing after the step and roughly in the middle of the court (note: different players like the ball to bounce at different points in order to get varying types of spin on their 'cuts'). There are no rules about the serve but as a cutter can reject any serve, there is little benefit in giving him a serve which can not be easily hit. The cutter will then smash the ball overarm so that it is 'up', usually into the corner, so that the ball hits the right then the front wall and goes straight back at the server. The best way to follow up this 'cut' is to follow the ball in and stand on the step, ready for a volley if the server returns it high. From here the cutter and the server will try to volley the ball, while the other two players will sweep up anything that they miss. This continues until the ball is either hit 'down' or out of the court.
Read more about this topic: Eton Fives
Famous quotes containing the word point:
“When raging love with extreme pain
Most cruelly distrains my heart,
When that my tears, as floods of rain,
Bear witness of my woeful smart;
When sighs have wasted so my breath
That I lie at the point of death,”
—Henry Howard, Earl Of Surrey (1517?–1547)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)