Kritch

**Kritch** (クリッチ, *Kurichi*), also known as **Chritch**, is a sport involving the use of Nen. It is a very popular and well-known game among Nen users, having earned itself a committee and many teams. Some Nen schools, such as Athelney, have camps reserved for its playing and days where there are official matches where the students can compete against each other.

## Overview

In official matches, the field used for the playing of Kritch is oval-shaped, 130 meters long and 70 meters wide (426.5 feet and 229.6 feet, respectively) and made all of grass, with a two small, central white circles where the balls atart at. In both ends there is a circular white area on the ground with a goal. Usually surrounding the camps are large and tall bleachers for spectators to watch the game. In variations of the game, instead of goals, are hoops similar to the ones used in real-life's basketball.

The players normally wear simple outfits, with short-sleeved shirts, shorts, socks and soccer shoes, along with safety equipment. Batters also wield wooden hockey sticks (which they normally use Shu on). In Athelney, the teams are divided by Nen type, and so the students have the uniforms made for them: the color of the shirt depends on their tower, the shorts and shoes are black, and the socks have horizontal stripes, that are black and their Nen tower's color. In older versions of the sport, as it was much more violent, players wore much heavier safety equipment, such as helmets and face protectors.

## Game dynamics

There are 10 players in each team, and all members of one team start in one of the ends of the field. Normally, those 10 players are made of 4 Scorers, 1 Defender, 2 Takers, 2 Batters and 1 Captain. Takers are the only players who can grab balls with their hands, while all the other players can only kick them. However, they can only hold them for 10 seconds at most, and each additional second will take out points from the team.

The main goal of the players is to hit the record of 250 points; the first team to do so is chosen as the champion. In rare cases, where both of them end up scoring the total points at the same time, it is a draw. To score points, the team members must achieve some accomplishments during the match. The Scorers' main function is to be get the other team's ball inside their (the opponent's) goal; each one is worth 60 points. The Defender's function is to prevent a ball from coming inside their goal; each ball they deviate or grab is worth 40 points. The Takers' function is to steal the ball from the other team; each ball they manage to steal is worth 35 points. And lastly, the Batters' function is to hit balls with their sticks, either to help their own team or to harm the opposite team; each ball hit is worth 25 points. The Captain can do any of those, and their main function is to create strategies for the team. If a Scorer gets their team's own ball inside their own goal, 60 points will be taken off of their team; if they get the other team's ball in front of the goal of their own team, instead, the opposite team will earn 60 points.

Occasionally, to make the match more enthusiastic, other balls will be thrown in the field, and if a player gets one of them inside the opponent's goal, they'll score 15 points. Those additional balls, called the Golden Balls, resemble the color of gold and are significantly smaller than the proper balls used in the game (slightly bigger than a real life soccer ball). There is not a real limit of how many of these balls can be thrown. Similarly, if a game has been going on for one hour, one special ball, known as Filch, is thrown onto field. By the use of a Manipulation ability, this ball is programmed to move freely and frantically as soon as it touches the ground of the field, without being able to leave it; it will only stop after being grabbed by a player or after the end of the match. In the first case, the team whose player got the Filch will earn 150 points, winning most times. It is said that when a Filch is thrown onto camp, "everything becomes chaos, all the players jump at one spot and everyone forgets about the team balls". In fact, most deaths in Kritch have taken place during those moments, where the players in the bottom ended up suffocated or trampled.

### Rules

To make sure the game will be safe and fair, rules must be followed before and during the matches. In the past, people were very careless of the rules, which caused Kritch to be a much more brutal and lethal game. Through statistics, an year was shown to have had the most deaths related to the game in history, and after the death of a very famous player due to it, people began to protest and most teams refused to keep playing unless safety measures were taken. Ever since that, the death toll dropped heavily, and most years have been completely clean of deaths related to Kritch. The game still remains violent, and it's usual to see players getting hurt and having to be replaced, and even suffering serious injuries such as breaking bones.

1. Players must always be wearing their uniform and proper equipment when coming to matches.
2. Players must not leave the boundary areas of the field.
3. If the Captain wants a time-out, they must provide a proper reason for that. If a member does not return to the field, they will have to be replaced; if the entire team fails to return, they will be disqualified and the opposite team will win.
4. If any player breaks the rules, they will be given a warning. Receiving 3 warnings will cause them to be disqualified and replaced.
5. Players must not attack other players. Nen can only be used if it does not harm anyone. If there is Nen-related external interference during or before the start of a game, the match would be postponed until the effects wore off (normally when matches take place, some Nen Exorcists are called in case a curse is placed upon a player).
6. A game will only end after a team completes 250 points, there is any of the interference listed above, or a team gives up (and there is agreement between the Captains).