The Super Bowl of Marbles!

STANDING STONE STATE PARK, Tenn. -- The world's best marble players take center stage Saturday during the 26th annual National Rolley Hole Championship.

And just a few miles up the road toward Celina, Tenn., sportsmen fish some of the finest smallmouth bass waters in the nation beneath the gorgeous blue surface of Dale Hollow Lake.

The game is played on a 40-by-20-foot dirt marble yard that has three marble-size holes in the center spaced nine feet apart. Playing with a partner, the idea is for players to make the hole or "hole out" 12 times. The strategy comes by figuring out the best way to keep opponents from making the hole, which often requires skillful hard shots against their marbles, sending them ricocheting across the yard much like sending an opponent's ball away from the wicket in the game of croquet.

"It's a game that combines golf, pool and croquet and the strategy of chess, but dead aim is needed," Hughes said. "Some of these guys can hit a marble 20 feet away nine out of 10 times."

Standing Stone State Park is the only state park with a marble yard, mainly because the best players in the U.S. hail from Celina and Monroe County, Ky., just across the state line. The rolley hole yard is covered by a roof and is open on four sides. Players range in age from 14 to 65. This year 14-year-old Andrew Walker will enter the contest with his father, Wilbur.

"It's just fun. You've got to have a strong thumb," said the Clay County High School freshman. "With rolley hole you've got to be pretty smart. It's got a lot of strategy."

Walker, the state marbles champion, said he practices an hour a day. He is a member of the Knucklers, a kids' marbles club coached by Jeff Kimmell of Baxter, Tenn., who was the national marble champion in 1981 and with his wife, Molly, finished fourth one year at the rolley hole tournament.

The Knucklers, 10 children from Putnam, Macon, Overton and Clay counties, practice three hours every Saturday from October through February at the park. "It's a good pastime sport," Kimmell said. "Marbles is a tough game. There is skill to it. It takes 6,000 to 7,000 hours of play to be one of the best."

The park, seven miles south of Celina and seven miles north of Livingston, offers 1,000 acres of natural beauty. "I believe it is exactly what a state park should be. We've got outstanding scenery, a 69-acre lake, beautiful rustic cabins and a campground," Hughes said.