by Paul Tukey
The goal is for one team to eliminate all the players on the other team. A player is “out” if:
He or she is hit by a thrown ball from the shoulders down
A player on the other team catches a ball thrown by the player before the ball hits the ground
A ball bounces off a teammate and hits the player
The player steps out of bounds
Players can re-enter a game either by catching a thrown ball while standing on the sidelines or by getting called back in by a teammate who has just caught a ball inside the court.
Strategy. A key strategy is for multiple teammates, each with a ball, to pick one player to throw the ball at; it’s difficult to dodge or catch more than one ball at a time. It’s that gang-up strategy, of course, that gives the game its negative reputation in some circles; however, given safe balls and a proper distance, it’s all in good fun.
Variation: Spud
In this simplified American version of dodgeball, one player tosses the ball straight up into the air and calls out another player’s name. While the ball tosser and other players scatter, the named player must retrieve the ball and holler “Spud!” The running players must instantly freeze in place.
Clearly, teachers in the 1930s were less concerned with playground safety than they are today. At least the windows are open, reducing the chance of broken glass.
The “it” player then throws the ball at another player; if the ball hits the player, he or she gets an “S”; however, if the player catches the ball, the thrower receives the “S.” The last player to reach S-P-U-D is the winner. Defending players are not allowed to move their feet, but can contort their bodies to avoid getting hit.
In a variation that is considered safer in some circles, the “it” player must roll the ball at the other players’ feet. That eliminates the risk of bruises or bruised egos, especially if the sizes and ability of players vary.
Variation: Ga-ga
A playground version of dodgeball from Israel is played inside a circle of people or within an octagonal court made especially for the game. Homemade courts can easily be constructed with fences, benches, woodpiles, sheets of plywood, or picnic tables turned on their sides.
The ball is batted off the wall or toward other players with an open hand or closed fist and a player hit by the ball at or below the knees is eliminated. In this game, though, a player may simply bat the ball in a new direction with his or her hands and many of the “hits” happen on caroms off the wall. No player can hit the ball twice in a row, unless only two players remain. This can be played as a team game, but usually it’s an all-for-one free-for-all!
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
We couldn’t find dodgeball in any references of children’s activities in the 1800s, but author Emmett Dunn Angell did include the game in his landmark book, Play: Comprising Games for the Kindergarten, Playground, Schoolroom and College, published in 1910.
Angell described a dodgeball game played in a circle, with a single stiff leather basketball. One team’s players played within the circle, trying to dodge throws from the players who were forming the human ring.
Deeply spiritual to Native Americans, the game of double ball combined elements of their ancient sport of lacrosse with Ultimate Frisbee and ladder golf centuries before the latter two activities even existed. Played with a double ball or bolas (see ladder toss, page 133), which was propelled by players carrying thin tree branches, the ancient game was contested across miles-long playing fields. The games, which sometimes served as dispute settlements among tribes, could last for entire days. In some tribes, only the women played double ball; the men played lacrosse.
ALSO KNOWN AS Bison’s Testicles, Sack Ball, Stick Ball, We Pitisowewepahikan, Women’s Ball
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA Teammates toss the bolas back and forth while running to score goals
PLAYING AREA The more players, the larger the area
EQUIPMENT
• One double ball
• A stick for each player
• Safety goggles might be a good idea
AGES 10 and up
PLAYERS 4 or more per team
Play Bolas
Nowadays, games are typically limited to soccer- and football-sized fields, or even smaller areas, especially if younger children and fewer players are involved. Long games require great stamina, coordination, and athleticism, but probably the best aspect of the game is the charm of the equipment: no two balls or sticks are alike.
Double balls were traditionally made by filling two pouches of deerskin with buffalo hair and joining them with a foot-long leather thong or tethering two dowels together with rawhide. Modern variations of the ball are often made from a couple of beanbags tied together.
Homemade double balls can be crafted by putting sand or small pebbles in the end of a tube sock or legging and tying it off so that the sand stays balled up in the bottom, then adding an equal amount of sand or stones in the remaining space, and sealing up the open end of the sock. Tie off above the second ball, creating a short “bridge” of sock fabric between the two sacks.
Rules. Teams score single points by throwing the double ball between, over, or under the football-style goal posts at each end of the field.
The game begins when a referee or a player throws the ball high into the air at the center of the field.
Players from both sides run toward the ball and try to catch it on their stick.
Most rules allow the ball to be advanced only by throwing and catching, but some variations allow running with the ball until a player passes or shoots, or it’s knocked off the stick by an opponent.
When the ball touches the ground, it can either be picked up by the opposing team or thrown into the air at the drop spot by the referee.
Three points are awarded if the ball wraps around the crossbar of the goal posts, two if the ball flies over the crossbar, and one if it flies under the bar.
Strategy. In some games, points are deleted from a team’s total if the ball is allowed to drop to the ground. That places a high premium on learning to catch and throw the ball with the stick, which is usually about three feet long.
Although young players will inevitably have the urge to cluster toward the ball, the most successful teams learn to spread the field with equal numbers of offensive and defensive players. That ensures a place in the game for the fastest and slowest runners, and everyone in between.
World Champs
The young Native American women of the Fort Shaw Government Indian Boarding School became an international phenomenon at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair in conjunction with that year’s Olympics.
Taking on all comers in the new American sport of basketball, the women from various Plains tribes reportedly won every contest and received a trophy that declared them to be World’s Fair champions. The women’s remarkable endurance on the court was attributed to having played double ball as children, according to the 2008 book, Full Court Quest.
The Native Wellness Institute, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to preserving Native American wellness-related training, still teaches double ball to children within tribes across North America. Their games always begin with a ceremony and prayer.
“We must give thanks to the Creator for what he has given us, and I don’t mean TVs and cell phones. I’m talking about the gift of motion,” said Charlie Tailfeathers, Sr., a founding member of the Institute, formed in 2000 in Gresham, Oregon.
Give a young child an object, any object, and he or she will make a game or a toy out of it. Give a child a rope and the possibilities are almost endless, from jumping to tying and lassoing. But if you give three children two ropes, well, look out! The amazement was reportedly palpable on the streets of a trading town on the Hudson River known as New Amsterdam more than 300 years ago. When new British settlers saw two young Dutch children simultaneously twirling two ropes in opposite directions, with other children jumping in the middle,
the game of Double Dutch began to take hold in what we now call New York City.
ALSO KNOWN AS Jump Rope, Team Jump Rope
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA Perform a variety of jumps, spins, and gymnastics while negotiating 2 spinning ropes
PLAYING AREA Any lawn, paved area, indoor gym, or dance floor
EQUIPMENT 2 pieces of rope at least 10 feet (3 m) long
AGES Starting around 8, although some prodigies are younger
PLAYERS A minimum of 3, can be as many as 30
Jump to It
Perhaps the game that requires the most endurance and athletic ability of any in this book, Double Dutch involves a rare combination of coordination, timing, and rhythm. A syncopated form of the simple game of jump rope, Double Dutch is at least four times as difficult, but maybe 10 times the fun once you have it mastered.
Double Dutch offers the joy of music as well as movement, since singing and rhyming is most often conducted as an accompaniment. The game also fuses friendships and/or fans competitive fires, because you must carefully study the best rope swingers and jumpers. One false move by anyone can throw an entire team off its game.
Rules. The official records are kept based on making a certain number of jumps in a set period of time and, believe it or not, the world’s best teams can make up to six jumps in a second. “Fusion” teams combine acrobatics and dance with jumping, and judges’ scores, along with the number of jumps, determine who wins. For the basics, simply choose two players to twirl the ropes and at least one person to jump in.
Left arms turn the rope clockwise and right arms turn the rope counterclockwise. Hold the rope between your thumb and index finger and twirl from the elbow until you gain experience.
Finding a rhythm is important; that’s why having all players sing the same song helps.
DOUBLE PHOENICIAN?
Historians trace the likely origin of Double Dutch to ancient Chinese, Phoenician, and Egyptian rope makers. With strands of hemp around their waists attached to a spinning wheel, the workers moved backward, twisting the material uniformly as they walked. Other workers in the buildings or on the docks had to jump over the rope as it formed to avoid tripping or becoming entangled. This was before the days of workers’ compensation!
“LEARN THE LINGO”
Eggbeater The act of spinning the ropes in opposite directions simultaneously
Freestyle The act of spontaneously improvising new jumps within the ropes
SSJ “Super speed jumper,” the name given to individuals who try to see how many jumps they can make in two minutes
The South Carolina team of Antoine Cutner, Ernest Gilmore, Joy Hiller, and Cita Wise set the all-time team speed record in Double Dutch in 2005 with an astonishing 879 jumps in 2 minutes.
FLASHBACK VICTORIA
As a farm girl from Maine, it was very, very important that I learned how to play Double Dutch when I moved to Boston in fifth grade, because it was such a part of the culture in my new urban neighborhood. Having had some ballet lessons, I was into rhythm and at least had some potential, but this is not an easy game to master. I worked hard at it.
It was really something to go to the playground and see all those ropes twirling in rhythm. My heart would begin beating fast just in the anticipation of participating! Some of the girls were more polished than others and I was lucky that the ones I was playing with were very encouraging. I’ll never forget the moment I “got it” and enjoyed my first time inside the ropes and being the center of everyone’s attention! I had such a sense of achievement; I had been accepted.
One of the most popular sports around the world, field hockey has been contested for at least 4,000 years, yet remains underappreciated in the United States, where ice hockey enjoys a vastly higher social standing. A goal-scoring game, field hockey was described compellingly in a 1903 Spalding sports manual meant to introduce the game to the American masses: “The vigorous running gives splendid development of heart and lung power, even surpassing football in this respect. The player gets the wrist of a fencer and the accuracy of a golfer, for he must be able to twist the ball quickly from his opponent and pick it up and dribble it along at his greatest speed down the field . . . ”
ALSO KNOWN AS Bandy, Camogie, Hurling, Lawn Hockey, Shinny
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA Players with sticks pass the ball along the ground while trying to score goals
PLAYING AREA A fairly large field with smooth grass
EQUIPMENT
• A hard rubber ball (a tennis ball works in a pinch)
• A stick for each player (preferably field hockey sticks, but ice hockey ones will do)
• Markers for boundaries
• 2 goals
AGES 5 and up
PLAYERS 2 on 2, up to 11 on 11
Not Just for Girls
Male Americans might not have bought into that argument, but it’s never too late to join the tens of millions of women, and men from other nations, who appreciate the game’s nuances. Informal field hockey games played on any backyard or playground, with any manner of equipment, can be a great cardiovascular workout and develop hand-eye coordination.
Rules. In terms of field size and player count, field hockey is quite similar to soccer, with a 100-yard field and 11 players on a side. The game’s slender stick — about three feet long and curved at the bottom — gives the game its primary distinction. At the curve, the stick is flat on one side and rounded on the other; only the flat side may be used to strike the ball.
Teams comprise forwards (or “inners”), midfielders, and backers, and the simple objective is to outscore the other team.
Play begins with all players in position and the ball placed between the two center forwards, who battle for initial possession.
Players may dribble or pass the ball toward the opposing goal, but the ball must remain below knee level. Sticks may not be raised above the shoulder on the backswing.
Players are not permitted to kick the ball and only two players at a time may be touching the ball with their sticks.
Shots on goal must come from within the circle, unless an offensive player is completely unguarded from outside the arch.
Strategy. The best players spend hours upon hours mastering their stick technique. Controlling the ball by dribbling, pushing, flicking, scooping, hitting, and driving is essential as teammates move toward the opponent’s goal.
Olympic MVP
Few sports are unanimous in the selection of greatest player of all time, but in field hockey the overwhelming choice is Dhyan Chand, a captain in the Indian Army. He was the leading goal scorer for three consecutive Olympic titles: Amsterdam in 1928, Los Angeles in 1932, and Berlin in 1936. India still celebrates Chand’s birthday, August 29, as National Sports Day.
Official layout for field hockey; a backyard game can be any size that is available or suited to the number of players.
The advent of AstroTurf in the mid-1960s impacted all sports, but none more than field hockey, where the ball is played almost entirely on the ground. This “synthetic revolution” ended the dominance of India and Pakistan in world competition because those countries initially could not afford fake grass fields. Equipment, techniques, and rules changed to accommodate the increased speed of the game, which now requires artificial turf in all major tournaments.
Although the international game of football, which Americans call soccer, has been played the world over for millennia, the U.S. version has been around for only about a century. And while most of us are too small, slow, frail, or otherwise ill-equipped to play the helmet-crashing version, just about everyone can enjoy a game of touch or flag football in the backyard.
ALSO KNOWN AS Tags & Tails Football, Touch Football
Although the game evolved from a time when the emphasis was on kicking and running, it’s the forward pass, which wasn’t even legal in the game’s official rules until 1906, that makes football such challenging, thrilling fun. Children beam with pride w
hen they learn to catch the ball or throw their first touchdown pass. The male youth of North America often grow up dreaming of being the next iconic quarterback — a Unitas, Namath, or Brady — however remote the chances may be.
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA Run or pass the ball up the field to score a touchdown without being “deflagged”
PLAYING AREA A large, open area
EQUIPMENT
• A football
• A flag for each player (optional); flags can be bandanas stuck in back pockets or fabric strips attached by Velcro to a belt
AGES 8 and up
PLAYERS 2 on 2, up to 11 on 11
Down, Set, Hut!
The fundamental point of football is to advance the ball, by running with it or passing it to a teammate, down the field past the goal line and into the end zone. The “real” game’s myriad rules and nuances can take years to fully comprehend and grown men who have been around the game their entire lives still debate rules every Sunday. Numerous flag football leagues, likewise, have a plethora of regulations, but in the backyard, house rules are invariably more informal.
The primary difference is that in flag football much of the roughhousing is removed. The game is terrific not only for developing skills and athleticism, but also for rewarding teamwork, strategy, and conflict resolution. Regardless of the outcome of a pass or run, players always regroup in a huddle to design the next play. What a thrill indeed when everything works out as planned — with the ball in the end zone!