The pelota ball, also called ball game, is an outdoor collective sport, from the palm games family, between two teams of five players who throw a small ball, called pelota, by hitting it by hand with a leather glove. It is a game of gaining ground that is played outdoors, on hard ground. The ground is called ballodrome. This sport is practiced in the western part of Belgium – in the provinces of Namur, Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Flemish Brabant and East Flanders – as well as in France, in the Sambre Valley and Valenciennes.