A park or a ground with a grown-up

Kho-kho at home

An open flat space, a pole or marker and friends; the full game needs a court with two poles and a central lane.

2 cards at home 5 for a park or court 2 for the club

What should we practise today?

Tell us where you are and who is playing. You get one card and the reason.

Where are you?

Who is playing?

Start a session

New to kho-kho? The game in a minute

Read this once before the first card.

The game in short: A chasing game for two teams. The chasing team's players crouch in a row of squares down the middle of the court, facing opposite ways in turn, with one player, the active chaser, up and running. The other team sends in runners, three at a time, who dodge and try not to be touched.
How the chase works: The active chaser may not cross the central lane or turn back, except at the poles at each end. To pass the chase on, the chaser touches a crouching team-mate from behind and says "kho"; that player gets up and becomes the chaser. Good chasers use quick khos to catch runners from both sides.
How points are scored and a game is won: Each runner touched by the chaser is out, and the chasing team scores a point. When three runners are out, the next three come in. After a set time the teams swap roles; when each team has chased twice, the team with more points wins.
Rules children break first: A kho is a touch from behind with the word "kho", never a push.
The chaser does not cross the central lane or turn back between the poles.
Runners stay inside the court.
Dives are only learnt with a coach on soft ground.
At home you start with the basics: The crouching stance, rising and running, giving a smooth kho, turning tight round a pole, and small chasing games with friends.

Words you will hear (21, in plain language)

Chaser: A player on the chasing team; the active chaser is the one up and running.
Sitting chaser: A chaser crouching in a square, waiting for a kho.
Runner: A player on the other team who tries not to be touched.
Batch: The group of three runners on the court at one time.
Central lane: The strip down the middle of the court, with the squares, which the chaser may not cross.
Squares: The boxes along the central lane where the sitting chasers crouch.
Pole: The wooden pole at each end of the central lane; the chaser may turn only there.
Cross lane: A line across the court through each square.
Free zone: The area beyond each pole where the chaser can move either way.
Kho: The touch from behind plus the word "kho" that passes the chase to a sitting chaser.
Sitting stance: Crouching with the feet close together, weight on the toes, heels up, ready to rise.
Fake kho: Pretending to give kho to fool the runner, then giving it to someone else.
Late kho: A kho given a moment late to break the runner's rhythm; one given early when the runner commits; one timed by reading the runner's speed.
Tapping: A light, long-arm touch on a runner passing close.
Covering: A chaser rising fast to cut off a runner.
Chain: A runner's pattern of dodging round the sitting chasers in a loop.
Ring: A runner circling close round a pole to escape.
Pulti: A quick turn back to dodge the chaser.
Dive: A chaser diving to touch a runner's heel, from standing, on the run, or turning round the pole. Club only.
Heel tapping: Touching the runner's heel as they pass.
Turn: A team's time chasing or running.

Try it, nothing to buy

Mark the space once. Every card starts from it.

A suggested first ten sessions (optional)

The cards, level by level

Nobody is late. A beginner of any age starts at Basic.

Basic 4 cards · show· hide The sitting stance, giving a smooth kho (a touch from behind and the word, never a push), straight running with direction change, and simple small-sided games.

Move on when the child meets the self-checks on b1 to b3.

Intermediate 3 cards · show· hide The clever skills: judging the moment, late and early kho; tapping; covering; crawling low; the sitting dive and running dive; and for runners the single and double chain. Dives are tried only when four things are in place: good judgment of the runner's speed, the distance, the confidence to land without injury, and an explosive jump.

Move on when the coach confirms safe landings.

Advanced 2 cards · show· hide The dives (spot, running and pole dive), trapping a runner at the post, defending against the pole dive, judgment kho and heel tapping, choosing the order of runners, and tie-break plans.

Teaching this at home

More space and a second person. A grown-up can run every card.

You do not need to know the sport. Each card tells you where to stand, what to say and what to look at. Pick one thing to say in a session and say only that. The first week looks messy; that is normal. End every session on one that works.

Cards marked At a club are taught by a coach. They tell you what the coach teaches, what is safe at home, and what to ask the club before your child joins.

How to warm up before playing is at workonfitness.com. The rules of the game are at sportsmaze.com.