Canadian physical education teacher and sports innovator James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 as an alternative to the injury-prone game of football. He was in Springfield, Mass., which enjoys cold winters and this new game could be played indoors.

Here in our active lifestyle community, eight enthusiastic athletes gathered at our Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre last Thursday evening to try an innovative new game called Spec Tennis.

Rosemary Goodwin is introducing this game to Canada, under the long-distance guidance of Nate Goss from California.

We had experimented last winter in Virgil, on the perfectly sized driveway of Zeny and Manny Umoquit on Concession 4 Road. Snow? Cold? Wear warmer clothes. We had a ball. We must not be constrained by the weather.

Enthusiastic athlete and early adaptor Trish Spagnol has labelled Spec Tennis a “busier game,” with much less time waiting for errant Penn 4s to be retrieved.

A slightly softer, foam-type ball is used, taking some speed off shots, and there is only one serve. The serve is meant to get the point under way, not to see how much noise the ball can make when it hits the net or the screen beyond the baseline.

It is such fun to be involved from Day One of a new sport. We play a lot of tennis during the warmer months on the nine excellent courts here in our little corner of the sporting world, but this game just might join pickleball as another fun way to pass the winter. And to make new pals.

Percentage wise, Spec Tennis can optimistically claim to be the fastest-growing sport in Canada. From zero players two weeks ago to eight last week – and 14 are signed up for this week. Huzzah.

Just think of the fun and challenge of having a relatively open slate when developing the rules of a game. It is too easy to fall in love with the rule book of a game and forget that the rules have developed, as some players got “too good for the rules.”

For example, the three-point line and the 24-second clock in basketball are relatively recent changes, necessary to make the game move faster, and to give non giant-sized people a chance to participate. Brilliant, eh?

Should the intent of a rules committee be to maintain the status quo or to intelligently guide the evolution of a game? You decide.

Can “Canada’s game” of ice hockey be made less violent and expensive? It’s a great game, but so few young people are playing now. What ever happened to house leagues for different age groups, with all star teams then being chosen to travel to neighbouring towns?

Cricket is an international favourite and visionary leaders have made dramatic changes to the sport to make it relevant to our fast-moving society. Big games used to last five days, including breaks for tea and lunch. Now, cricket fans can watch hugely exciting games that start and finish on the same day. Or faster …

Baseball is trying to speed things up, to reduce the time taken to play a game. While they are at it, why not get rid of the intentional walk. It is the most fraudulent strategy in all of professional sport.

A family pays good money for tickets to a major league game to see their hero. He comes to bat in the ninth inning with the score tied, the catcher stands up to receive four lobs from the pitcher, out of the strike zone and the obscenely wealthy star player jogs boringly down to first base.

There’s gotta be a better way. How about sending him all the way to second base, in scoring position?

Now, rambling back to Spec Tennis. It is athletic, social, weather proof and does not demand long sprints to the baseline or the net.

There’s lots to love about this new sport. Stay tuned.