Sepak takraw (Malay: sepak raga; Thai: ตะกร้อ "takraw"; Lao: ກະຕໍ້ "ka-taw"; Filipino: "sipa"; Vietnamese: "cầu mây") or kick volleyball is a sport native to Southeast Asia, resembling volleyball, except that it uses a rattan ball and only allows players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball. It is a popular sport in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Indonesia.
Similar games include footbag net, footvolley, football tennis, Bossaball, jianzi and sipa.
Earliest historical evidence shows that the game was played in the 15th Century's Malacca Sultanate, for it is mentioned in the famous Malay historical text, "The Sejarah Melayu" (Malay Annals). The Malay Annals described in details the incident of Raja Muhammad, a son of Sultan Mansur Shah who was accidentally hit with a rattan ball by Tun Besar , a son of Tun Perak, in a sepak raga game. The ball hit Raja Muhammad's headgear and knocked it down to the ground. In anger, Raja Muhammad immediately stabbed and killed Tun Besar, whereupon some of Tun Besar's kinsmen retaliated and wanted to kill Raja Muhammad. However, Tun Perak managed to restrain them from such an act of treason by saying that he would no longer accept Raja Muhammad as the Sultan's heir. As a result of this incident, Sultan Mansur Shah ordered his son out of Malacca and had him installed as the ruler of Pahang..
By the 1940s, the net version of the game had spread throughout Southeast Asia, and formal rules were introduced. In the Philippines the sport was called "Sipa", in Myanmar, or Burma, it was dubbed "Chinlone", in Laos "Kator", "cầu mây" in Vietnam and in Indonesia "Raga."
International play is now governed by ISTAF, the International Sepak Takraw Federation. The King's Cup World Championships are held every year in Thailand.
The earliest accounts of organized takraw in the United States involve a group of students (Greg St. Pierre, Thomas Gong, Joel "big bird" Nelson, and Mark Kimitsuka) from Northrop University in 1986 in Inglewood, CA, learning about and playing the sport in Los Angeles. Malaysian students attending the University often enjoyed playing the sport on a court on top of the dormitory cafeteria. They taught a handful of curious American students how to play, which in turn inspired the Malaysian Airline system to sponsor a U.S. team from the University to attend the National Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in Nov 1987. The Northrop team played in a bracket of international new teams with Korea, Sri-Lanka, and Australia. The U.S. team beat Sri-Lanka and Australia to bring home the Gold.
While in Thailand, Sonderegger discovered the actual sport of sepak takraw and was hooked. He connected with the major wholesaler of the balls, Marathon, and returned to Maine with a load of plastic balls and the idea of starting a business. He had heard about the takraw team at Northrop and decided to move out to Los Angeles to start his business there.
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