Attributed to Freddie, Reading, UK
It is always fun watching or hearing about games that children invent using what is available, so it was nice to hear about this game from my son about a game he plays at school taking advantage of some bats and a tennis ball that are available at playtimes. It’s played by a group of 5-6 year olds. I asked who invented it and he commented it was his friend Freddie, so nice one Freddie!
Equipment:
- Tennis ball
- Bats, one for each player (even better if each team have the same colour). e.g. One set blue the other set green.
- One bat of a totally different colour. (e.g. yellow)
- Two goals (or something that can be used to mark a goal).
Play:
There does not appear to be any set number of players, just a need for each player to have a bat. Divide into two equal teams. One player has the odd coloured (yellow) bat. Placing the tennis ball in the middle the idea is as with football to get the ball into the opposing goal. The ball must be dribbled or kept low (hence the name scoop for scooping up the ball). Ball cannot be kicked. The player with the yellow bat (the odd coloured bat) is effectively the ‘maverick’ and able to do what they like, playing for either side as they wish or even just sit out or have a sleep if wished.
Similar to football if the ball goes out of the pitch or behind the goal, the ball is retrieved and placed back into play by the opposing team (to the one that knocked it out of play) using a bounced hit. I.e. the ball is bounced on the ground and hit with the bat back into play as it bounces up.
