As the time passed by, almost every traditional Polish sport was forgotten. Nowadays there are only some small villages where people still play games such as palant, kapela, kulanie kulotka, pierścieniówka or ringo. These are the sports that aren’t totally forgotten and weren’t replaced by other types of sport more characteristic of our times.

Pierścieniówka

This game was created in 1936 in Poland. It is similar to volleyball, but the net here has 3 holes (pierścienie). You don’t throw the ball over the net, but through those holes, and it’s only acceptable,when you do it using two hands. This game isn’t popular, but it’s really easy to play, so everyone can enjoy it. This game is played in 4-player teams.

Image credit www.lepszypoznan.pl

Palant

The history of this sport begins in the Middle Ages. In the 19th century the interest in “palant” increased, and so some competitions were held. This sport was so popular that the Polski Związek Piłki Palantowej (Polish Organisation of Palant Ball) was founded. Unfortunately, this organisation didn’t last long. It was transformed into Polski Związek Baseballu i Softballu (Polish Organisation of Baseball and Softball). Palant is quite similar to baseball. You also hit the ball with a bat whose name is “palant”. After you hit the ball you have to run to the finish line and then back to the “nest”. The task for the opposite team is to hit the running player with the ball. Now “palant” is played in the village of Grabów (near Łódź), where the title “King of palant” has only positive connotations. (In Polish palant also means a fool, dumbass).

Kapela

This folk sport was played till the beginning of the Second World War. The idea of the game was to hit kapela (a small pyramid made from some stones) with a stone. This sport was mostly played by herdsmen.

Kulanie kulotka

This folk game was played in a village called Bukówiec Górny. Players had to roll kulotko (a wooden disk) with a wooden stick in the shape of a board. The task was to toss the kulotko across the finish line of opposite team.

Ringo

This game was invented by Włodzimierz Strzyżewski, a Polish fencer and journalist, who demonstrated how to play the game while he was covering the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.