Frontball celebrated at Pilota Eguna in South San Francisco
Alberto Ongay plays for Bakersfield crowd at 2009 festival. Photo: Euskal Kazeta
November 1, 2015
Celebrate the Basque traditional sport of pilota at Pilota Eguna – Handball Day — at the San Francisco Basque Cultural Center next Saturday, Nov. 7. The up and coming sport known as frontball will be in the spotlight that day.
Admission to the day-long event is free, except for the evening banquet. The center is located at 599 Railroad Ave., South San Francisco.
At 1 p.m., Xabier Berrueta, president of the U.S. Federation of Pilota, will talk about the origins and history of Basque pilota. At 2 p.m. Iker Saitua, of the Center for Basque Studies at UNR, will discuss the impact of pilota on Basque culture and identity.
At 3:15 p.m. Jean Michel Idiart, creator and promotor of the Frontball Pro Tour, will discuss the sport’s latest urban trend – frontball, its history and its potential impact on urban society.
Exhibitions of frontball will take place from 4:30 – 6 p.m. among female and male champions.
The event is sponsored by the Basque Educational Organization, a non-profit organization attached to the Cultural Center that promotes Basque cultural events. For more information on the history of the BEO, click here.
The cost of the evening banquet is $40 and includes a complimentary raffle ticket for prizes. Tickets for children 12 and under are $10. For more information, email info@BasqueEd.org or call Nicole Sorhondo at (415) 285-0748.
