Miniten (a

portmanteau word A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordstennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

-like game created by

naturists Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

. It was devised in the 1930s, in order to provide a suitable game for naturist clubs which often lacked sufficient land to create full-sized tennis courts. Mr R. Douglas Ogden, a Manchester-based businessman with an interest in sporting activities drew up the original rules. The rules and scoring are similar to tennis and standard tennis balls are used, but the court is much smaller, and instead of

racquet A racket, or racquet, is a sports implement used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as squash, tennis, racquetball, badminton and padel. In the strictest sense a racket consists of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a ...

s, players use

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

en bats known as ''thugs'', which are shaped like a box around the player's hand. The sport is run by the Amateur Miniten Association. ''Miniten: Rules of the Game'' was published in 2017 by Wolfbait Books. The book was illustrated by Colin Gordon.

References

Ball games Individual sports Nude recreation Sports originating in England {{ball-sports-stub