Jai Alai - The Other Side of the Screen

By José M. Goitia and Bob Austin

This book is about the sport of Jai Alai, written by an active Jai Alai player at the time. It is based on his experiences from the beginning of his career. It covers a lot of the inside of the sport, from terminology to the personal aspects of a player.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 30, 1983
• ISBN: 9781483545233

Book preview

THE BASQUE COUNTRY–

The Basque land, or Euskadi, as called by the Basques, is located on both sides of the French and Spanish borders on the west end of the Pyrenees Mountains, south of the Bay of Biscay. It is divided into seven provinces, four in Spain (Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, Alava and Navarra) and three in France (Lapurdi, Benaparre and Zuberoa).

It is a beautiful, mountainous region with a great abundance of trees, grass and shrubbery that give this area an outstanding beauty with lush greenery year around. Its rocky coast provides a delightful contrast to the beauty of the mountains.

The year’s four seasons are distinguished by their own peculiar characters: mild temperatures with new growths on the deciduous trees in the spring; nice temperatures and fully bloomed trees in the summer; windy with drying leaves in the fall; very cold in the winter. All of this is spiced with heavy and unpredictable rainfall, especially during the winter.

The old narrow roads still prevail, connecting the towns and villages scattered throughout the mountains and valleys. Still today, the only access to many of the farmhouses (caseríos or aldeas) is by way of dirt roads. Although a very prosperous industrialized region, the old identity remains very much intact. The modern developments and residential buildings stand in sharp contrast to older edifices, many of them hundreds of years old.

On the coast, the towns are situated at the mouths of rivers. Small ports provide shelter for the fishing boats from the rough waters of the Cantabrian sea. Fishing and industries related to it are the main way of life for this area’s people. Basque fishermen are known for their courage and knowledge of the trade.

The heritage of the Basque people of the interior is based mainly on agriculture, raising livestock, sheepherding and craftsmanship. The Basques have also always had a great passion for hunting and for fishing in the prolific streams and small rivers. Today the Basque region is industrialized, as is the rest of Europe, and the character of the region is changing.

There are many vestiges of past cultures of different times. Bridges, sculptures and churches date from Roman times. A greater number of churches, convents and others date back to medieval times. Over the years, improvements and additions were made to the churches and the results are huge architectural monuments with towers, columns and walls made of solid stone blocks. Even the smallest villages have good-sized churches.

As a reminder of much older inhabitants, there are many prehistoric sites. Among the most renowned are a number of caves, where fossils of animals, human bones and crafts have been found as well as drawings of animals on their walls (bisons, bears, horses and others). Also around the countryside, there are a good number of Dolmens (ancient burial sites composed of several vertical stones with a big flat one placed across the top) similar to Britain’s Stonehenge.

To understand the ethnic origins of the Basque Jai Alai player is to be able to more fully appreciate the game itself and those who play it. The vast majority of players are native Basques. I am not a historian. Therefore, I have consulted some sources to be able to share with the reader a few interesting facts on Basque history.

An article, The Basque Who Won the West appeared in the Modern Maturity magazine, Aug.-Sept. 1982. A portion of the article, entitled The Basques: Europe’s Mystery People does an excellent job of sketching the mystery of the Basque origins. Part of it is reprinted below with permission from Modern Maturity, copyright 1982 by the American Association of Retired Persons. Americans will find interesting the influence of the Basque people on American history.

"The Basques remain an anthropological enigma despite centuries of speculation and study says author-scholar William A. Douglass, a leading authority on the Basques.

"The Basques refer to themselves as Euskaldunak, or ‘Speakers of the Euskera.’ [Euskara] Their language and unusual blood-type frequencies constitute their chief claims to ethnic individuality (Basques have a high frequency of O blood, a low frequency of B blood, and the world’s highest level of the Rh negative factor.

"While theories abound as to the origins of the Basque language, linguists have failed to link it with any other tongue.

"Legend has it that the Devil himself could not master its intricacies after seven years of study.

"The Basque homeland, scarcely 100 by 100 miles, comprises three French regions and four Spanish provinces, which straddle the French-Spanish border where the Pyrenees meet the Cantabrian coast. This precarious position has made the Basques vulnerable to invasion and occupation. Iberians, Romans, Franks, Moors, Normans and Goths all took their turns but failed to conquer these hardy people. Migration has long been a tradition among the Basques due in part to geographic conditions, which place severe limitations on population growth, and inheritance practices that dictate that land be transmitted intact to a single heir.

Maps of Basque country

Dots correspond to towns where the majority of Jai Alai players originate, on the Spanish side.

An aerial view of Lequeitio, a small fishing town in the Bay of Biscay in the Basque Country.

A very small town, typical of the type most Jai Alai players come from

View of Ondárroa on a foggy day. This is a small fishing town; home of many Jai Alai players.

A typical farm (caserío) in the Basque Country.

"Basques were Europe’s first whalers and may have visited the New World before 1492, says Douglass. It’s been documented that Basques formed the largest ethnic group on Columbus’ discovery voyage; during the following four centuries of Spanish colonization, Basques played important roles in the development and administration of Spain’s Latin American and Asian colonies. During the 16th century, a full 80 percent of the shipping to the Americas was by Basque vessels and crews.

"During the 1830s, Basque immigrants began settling the interior regions of Uruguay and Argentina, quickly establishing themselves as sheepmen. Later, with the discovery of gold in California, many ventured north to work the gold fields. Others turned to the already familiar pursuit of sheep-raising.

"By the early 1860s, the Basques were fast becoming the American west’s leading sheepmen, thanks to a distinctive approach to sheep husbandry known as transhumance — the seasonal movement of livestock in search of pasturage.

Today, large Basque colonies are solidly established in California, Nevada and Idaho, with smaller groups in Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.

Not many Americans know, for example, that the state name Arizona is a combination of two Euskara (Basque) words, aritz and ona, meaning good oak. This is a true Basque legacy of the American West.

Another source of material on Basque origins was John Gerassi’s article, A Long, Long War and No Winner, which appeared in the November 1981 issue of GEO magazine. With permission of GEO, much of the material that follows is borrowed from Gerassi’s article.

According to Gerassi, there are a number of theories as to the origins of the Basques, some more plausible than others. The continued existence of side-by-side theories means the final answer has not yet been given.

According to one theory the Basques are linked to nomads from the region of Georgia in the southeastern USSR. Another says they are descendants of the Iberians, a pre-Celtic people. A third states they descended from the lost tribe of Israel. There is even one theory that says the Basques are the survivors of Atlantis, the lost continent. Different proofs are offered for each of these theories, and