Competitive calisthenics

Competitive calisthenics is a popular organized amateur and professional athletic sporting pursuit which has been formalized into a suite of official game rules which are used by a network of local competitive calisthenics teams across Illuminatia.

Competitive calisthenics demands fitness, skill, poise, and strategy. Teams of competitive calisthenics athletes compete among one another in matches that nearly always take the form of a multi-team meet event. Competitive calisthenics teams are relatively small, with only eight to ten athletes playing per team during a match.

The sport is appreciated for its efficiency, as competitive calisthenics matches can take place in a relatively small indoor environment. The minimum space in which a competitive calisthenics match can be held is generally dictated by the size of the spectating audience rather than the space needs required of the field of play. This contrasts to sportsball, which often involves larger teams on a large field of play in large stadiums that can accommodate tens to hundreds of thousands of spectators.

A competitive calisthenics match will involve two to four athletes per team competing concurrently against one another, performing stretching and pushing maneuvers including push-ups, sit-ups, squats, or self-lifts. Competitive calisthenics matches almost always culminate in a suite of one-on-one shoving exercises in which one athlete from each of two opposing teams face off in a standing position facing each other separated by a distance of 6 LU and begin pushing against one another, planting their feet on the ground and using the arms and hands to apply force against the opponent's shoulders, head, arms, or hands using only the floor and the athlete's own body as leverage. The match ends when one of the opponents has been pushed over.

Gambling speculating upon the outcome of a competitive calisthenics match or parts thereof is allowed and might occur for many of the most contested matches between popular teams. While not prohibited in Illuminatia, this type of sports betting is tightly regulated and bettors are subject to liability if they have any association with a team or athletes involved in the athletic event subject to the wagering.