It has come to my attention, that the easiest way for people to understand what the New Batey sport is, i have to attribute it to a popular way everyone understands very well.
Plus, what I am thinking of, is to have a past, present, and future for the Batey Series: Space Soccer.
I know that I previously established in the story, you are not allowed to use feet or hands to grab or kick the heavy antigravity ball. But even though I’m a Dominican and I played varsity baseball in high school. My love of soccer compelled me to change this, because if not, this sport would be more like a hacky sack in the air trying to hit it into a ring.
Versus my love and passion of soccer, being in the air with jet boots going at high-velocity speeds, trying to kick it into a goal, using your teammates, or going absolutely solo. And that, kind of sounds like space soccer to me. I just don’t know why I was so hard-headed in wanting to not make it like space soccer. So, I will find a way to fix the small little mishap in the story to correct it. Maybe even institute a rule that at the knock-off stage, you are allowed to use your feet? Guess we’ll just have to see how I fix the story in the third book and comic. Anyway…
My passion for Soccer
Back in high school, I used to love playing soccer. I was a defensive midfielder and sweeper due to my near unlimited stamina, aggressive play style, and willingness to get my body to stop the goal at all costs. To do so, I had to really practice harder than others, as I started playing soccer at 16 years old while my teammates started at 9 or so. So much so, that I would memorize what training regimes the coach would give, and I would make sure that I and my other teammates would not skip doing it correctly or cutting corners. And as I was contemplating the rules of the sport, I realized that space soccer and the sport “Batey” that was inspired by my people in the Dominican Republic / Caribbean are almost the same.
Into The Game
The New Batey, a.k.a. the space soccer sport, has a metallic antigravity ball that is pretty heavy but due to an antigravity sphere is weightless and has very similar rules to the current sport of soccer. The heavy ball is used only in the professional league, the other leagues use less heavy materials for their games as the professional spheres can make the ball weightless. There is a rule that does not allow you to use your hands. There are no off-sides as the jet boots allow for fast catch-ups if someone was to only stay at the opponent’s goal or “cherry-picking”. With strong protective gear hurting anybody is it a question, but there are no blindsiding others only from the side or frontwards in head-long collisions like American Football and Hockey. We may see soon enough what happens in the next book when “they” decide to not follow the rules and air tackle from behind.
When you pass between teammates, quickly, the ball travels much faster than the opponents even if they do have jet boots on their feet. Even in space soccer, the ball zips by faster, bumping and kicking it or elbowing it to someone else in a better position or to at least keep the ball away from a defender closing in on you.
Instead of rectangular goals, and on the ground, the goal is in the air and circular. And it’s much smaller to have much fiercer competition. Some teams decide to have goalies, others decide to have free-floating defenders around, this is all based on their strategy. We may also see what ends up happening if the score ends in a draw at the end of regulation.
The game is divided into three-thirds. Not four quarters or two halves, but three-thirds. Each third is 10 minutes long. In real life, you think that 30 minutes go by quickly but in the anti-gratuity sphere time, feels like it’s running so slow. Especially for professionals who see the game on a much larger level than us spectators. If you’re pushed out of bounds. Such as shown in the first book, Batey Ascending. You have to figure out how to get back in. Going through the same way you entered, getting elevated into the stadium, dropped in, or flying in. Which might take one to two minutes, and that power play could be just the boost your team needs to score and potentially secure the win for the next two-thirds…
I hope you were able to understand where my passion derives from for the New Batey / Space Soccer for this Batey Series. As well as for who I am as a person and where I would like to see the story moving forward. Once again, as an indie author, I do most of my own work and review my own critical feedback but recently started allowing others to advise me. This is why I accept beta readers or proofreaders to assist in my storytelling. I initiated by getting consulting services from Fred in Progress. He has helped tighten up my stories and make them exceedingly better. By improving my focus overall, he has assisted in pointing out plot holes as well as inconsistencies and identified a larger audience that would welcome the story if I explained it in the same way I verbalized it to him. With lots of passion, and uncontainable excitement.
Appreciating his wonderful feedback, the third book in the Batey series is dedicated to him. Stay tuned.
