Sipa – which means ‘to kick’ or ‘kick’ is a pre-Spanish game played by men and women. They say it was first played in the 15th century. It used to be a solo game, played by native Filipinos to pass the time. Eventually, the rules have changed, and sipa is now played as group or as a team.
How Sipa Was Played
When Sipa was first played, men and women play it differently. To give you a picture, Sipa was played by kicking ‘the sipa’ which was made of coins and rubber bands or rattan. For men, they kick it in front of their bodies. Women on the other hand kick it from behind. Imagine angling your legs to kick something behind, then be ready to kick it again when it comes down. In playing sipa, there is one goal, to have the sipa in the air for as long as possible.
For more modest women, they play sipa by using their elbow. They hit the sipa with their elbow as they try to keep it in the air for as long as possible.
The Game of Sipa as it Evolved After the Spanish Era
Native Filipinos don’t get bored as they constantly made changes to their favorite native game called sipa. As mentioned, it started as a solo game that eventually became a team game.
It Started as A Solo Game
The goal of the solo game was to keep the sipa in the air for as long as possible, counting the times it was successfully kicked up. Once you started kicking your sipa, every successful kick (the sipa goes on air) is one point. The player with the most successful kick wins the game. It doesn’t matter where you kick the sipa once you started kicking. You can kick it in front of your body or from the back. You can even run to follow it if needed.
Sipa – which means ‘to kick’ or ‘kick’ is a pre-Spanish game played by men and women. They say it was first played in the 15th century. It used to be a solo game, played by native Filipinos to pass the time.
Then It Became a Team Game
In a team game, players can form a team of 3 to 5 people or larger. The team will have to pass the sipa around. The team can form a circle during their turn and the team with the most successful kick wins. Once the sipa is dropped, the other team will begin kicking and counting their successful kicks too.
The Team Game Evolution
Today, sipa is still played by young Filipinos, mostly students in grade school. They play it after school and during breaks. In bigger schools, sipa was even included in their sports fest as a team game. The new rules involved having two teams facing each other, with a net in between them. The sipa is then kicked towards the other team and the other team must be able to kick the sipa back. This rule was copied from another famous Filipino game called ‘sepak takraw’.
Despite the limited information as to how sipa began or what was used as sipa during the pre-Spanish era, one thing remains the same – this play of kick was a favorite pasttime by the natives in the past and is still a favorite among the modern Filipino kids.