Parquet
A hardwood basketball and indoor-sports floor laid in a geometric pattern of interlocking wooden blocks, prized for its spring and consistent bounce.
Definition
Parquet is a wooden sports floor made of short hardwood strips — traditionally maple — arranged in a repeating geometric, often checkerboard, pattern rather than long parallel boards. Laid over a sprung subfloor, it gives basketball and indoor sports a lively, consistent bounce and some shock absorption underfoot. The most famous example is the parquet floor historically associated with the Boston Celtics.
Indoor courts are increasingly built from long-strip maple rather than true block parquet, but "parquet" endures as shorthand for a classic indoor hardwood floor. Because it is a wooden surface it needs climate control — humidity swings can warp or loosen the wood — and regular refinishing to maintain grip and line markings.
Scope: An indoor hardwood surface type; the court is the venue, the parquet is the material it is finished in.
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Playing surfaces
- WoodAn indoor sprung timber or parquet floor — grippy, consistent and lightly cushioned; the classic surface for indoor court sports.
- Hard courtA rigid acrylic, concrete or asphalt court that gives a true, consistent, medium-paced bounce — the standard multi-use outdoor surface.
- GrassNatural turf grown on soil — the traditional surface for many field sports and, in tennis, a fast court with a low, skiddy bounce.
- SandLoose beach sand: a soft, shifting, energy-sapping surface with no true bounce that rewards balance and footwork, used for beach sports and conditioning.
- MatA cushioned, padded mat surface for grappling, striking and floor work — it absorbs falls and throws and grips underfoot, cushioning grappling, throws and floor work.
Facilities
- Sports hallA large indoor hall with multi-sport line markings, used for court sports like basketball, volleyball and badminton.
- Badminton courtA rectangular indoor court, divided by a high net, on which badminton is played as singles or doubles.
- Ice rinkA sheet of prepared ice, usually rink-boarded with rounded corners, used for skating and ice sports.
- GymAn indoor facility equipped with free weights, machines and cardio equipment for strength training and general fitness.
- Fitness studioAn open indoor room used for instructor-led group fitness classes such as yoga, aerobics and indoor cycling.
Exercises
- Jump squatAn explosive squat variation where you spring off the floor at the top of the movement.
- Hip hingeThe foundational bending-at-the-hips pattern that underpins deadlifts, swings and picking things up.
- Glute bridgeA floor exercise where you lift your hips by squeezing your glutes with your feet planted.
- SupermanA back-focused exercise where you lie face down and lift your arms and legs off the floor.
- Push-upA classic upper-body pushing exercise where you lower and press your body up from the floor.
Disciplines
- Poomsae (Forms)Poomsae is taekwondo's forms discipline: a set sequence of blocks, kicks, and strikes performed in a fixed pattern and judged on accuracy, power, and presentation.
- KataKata is the solo karate discipline of performing set sequences of blocks, strikes, kicks, and stances against imagined opponents.
Movement patterns
- HingeA hip-dominant pattern: bend forward at the hips with a flat back, minimal knee bend, then drive the hips tall — powers pulling from the floor and jumping.
- GaitThe cyclic, alternating single-leg pattern of walking and running that carries the body across the ground — the base of most field and endurance sport.
- PushPressing a load or the body away from the torso — horizontally or overhead — by extending the shoulders and elbows, developing the chest, shoulders and triceps.
- AccelerationThe athletic pattern of building speed from a standing or slow start by driving large horizontal forces into the ground to project the body forward.
- JumpThe plyometric pattern of projecting the body off the ground through explosive triple extension and controlling the landing — the core expression of lower-body power.
Equipment
- BasketballA large, inflated ball with a dimpled surface used to play basketball.
- Cricket batA flat-fronted wooden bat used by batters to hit the ball in cricket.
- VolleyballA soft, inflated ball struck with the hands and arms in volleyball.
- Yoga matA thin, cushioned non-slip mat used for floor-based exercise and stretching.
- Table tennis batA small wooden blade covered with rubber used to hit the ball in table tennis.