Given a chance, today's kids can play too.

[Tom]

The neighbor that destroyed the property next door was out today and his kids, nine and 12,  were terrorizing the place on their 4 wheelers.  They stopped to talk with my wife who was just getting home and she brought them in for ice cream and some chocolate candy.  They were bored.   They like baseball and were talking about  how they wished they had a ball.   I keep a couple of soft balls and baseballs under the  seat of my work truck and a basketball on the back just to keep customers kids occupied.  I've found that it works better to give them something fun to do than listen to their parents holler "NO" at them all day long.

I got them the ball and they played catch.  Then the boy, 12, got a stick and hit the ball.  The stick broke.  Then he got an old shovel handle.  It broke too.

I went to the barn and got my draw knife and a hand saw.   We went to the slab pile and found a piece of 2x2 that had the grain running just right and, while they held one end and rested the other on the tractor hood, I took the draw knife and pulled a bit of a handle on one end.   Then I showed them that one side had grain that made lines and one side had grain that made plates.  Alway hit the ball on the side that has lines".

"OK" , they said.

Actually it worked real good and they were making some solid hits.

I showed them how to play Indian Ball.  That's when you hit the ball and the fielder tries to catch it.  If he does, he is up.  If he doesn't, he has to hit the bat to be up.  The batter lays the bat on the ground and the fielder throws the ball, preferably rolling it on the ground.   If the ball hits the bat and the batter doesn't catch it in the air as it jumps over the bat, then the fielder becomes the batter.  You try to hit the bat and not have it jump over the bat or hope that it isn't caught.

They were ecstatic!   They yelled and laughed and played and their mother had to call them twice on their cell phone ???  To get them to come home. They took the bat with them and left laughing and yelling and talking just like kids should.  

It makes me happy. ;D

[Frickman]

Way to go Tom!  8) I've always heard that if you shake up a bunch of kids in a bag and pour them out they all come out looking the same, no matter where they come from. Sounds like you got the makings of a couple of off-bearers there.

[Jeff]

Way ta go batman!

[EZ]

Indian ball, wow, I forgot all about that game. Us neighbor kids use to play the heck out of that. Thanks for the memories Tom, and good job with the kids.
EZ

[Bibbyman]

The little one-room school I went to didn't have enought kids total to make up hardly one team much less two.  So we played what we called rotation.  Each person took turns going from possition to possition.  Pretty hard to keep score.  :D

[Mark M]

I never heard of that game Tom and we had lots of Indians up where I live. ;)

Sounds like a lot of fun, I'll have to give it a try sometime.

Mark

[Tom]

 It's a lot of fun for neighborhood kids in the afternoon.   The batter can't reach out in front of the bat either.   :D

We played rotation too, Bibbyman  Sometimes we played with permanent positions.  The infielders or outfielders may have an "at bat" but the pitcher and catcher or whoever was designated, would be in their position permanently.  That's especially fair when you have a wide range of ages.  The older guys usually don't take an "at bat".   They are entertaining the younger ones.

We used to play Five Dollars too. The batter tossed the ball up and hit it to the outfield where everybody else was waiting to field the ball.  A grounder (grass cutter) was worth a quarter.  A single bounce was worth fifty cents.  A fly ball was worth a Dollar.  The first to get five dollars went to bat. .

(You can make it real interesting by having to hit $5 on the button)

[SwampDonkey]

We played soccer baseball with a soccer ball. :D  The pitcher would wheel the ball at ya and you could run at it and give it a good kick. If the outfielders or the pitcher caught the fly ball he got to go to 'bat' Then the other plays were like baseball. Seems to me we kinda made a rough version where if ya hit the guy running, with the ball, then he was out and the tosser gets to bat. :D

Another soccer ball game was murder ball and it was a rough game too. There were teams as in rugby or football, but no real rules. Just, whom ever had the ball knew he was in for a real @$$ kickin. I remember the school teacher takin away the balls from them games several times with warnings, we never listened of course ;D :D

Then there was a kind of a tag ball, with a volley ball, where the centre of the basketball court was the whole class and the teach started out on the sidelines by tag'n his first victom with the ball. Then that person joins him in tagin the rest of the group by tossin the volley ball at ya. Everyone tagged by the ball, goes to the sidelines and I think there can be several balls. :D :D

[etat]

Hey Swamp, that's 'dodge ball', really fun.  I wonder if they still let em do it on the gym floor, doubt it cause there's a chance of somebody getting their head knocked off!!! ;D  If you get hit with the ball you're out.  If you 'catch' it, you can just throw it right back.  We always used a bunch of balls, all different sizes.  Them little round ones that was blowed up tight could be deadly!!!

[Stan]

We played a variant of that murder ball, called tackle. There were no teams, only the guy with the ball and everybody else. You only kept score of the broken bones.  :-/

[SwampDonkey]

Stan:

We was a tough bunch, anyone that got hurt was always back the next day for more punishment. ;D

We also played pigy-back with a rough twist to it also. We'de try to upend the hause and the jockey in any manner we could think of.  King of the hause. :D :D :D

[Frickman]

SwampDonkey,
We did the same thing on piggy back and called it "camel fighting". And dodge ball was called "kill ball". Around here a bunch of parents are trying to get it banned from the schools, even grade schools. They're afraid mostly of someone's feelings getting hurt.

[SwampDonkey]

Pro'lly started by the parents that never won. ;)

:D :D :D couldn't resist :D :D :D

[Frickman]

You figgered it out Swampy! It's some of the parents who didn't do to well when we were kids.

[etat]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D


Swamp, you nailed it!!!!!

[iain]

they play dodge ball at break times at my boys school with a soccer ball and during gym with small bean bags
its banned in most state schools cause of the amount of compo that was being paid out for cuts and scapes
we used to play spready and chicken round the back of the chem store gettig cought playing chicken was a suspendable offence

[Patty]

We played dodge ball in gym class when we were in high school, and it was great fun.
Then the school decided it was a good idea to combine the boys & girls for gym class, and the dodge ball games turned deadly. We go limping back to class all bruised up.  :D I remember one guy who was standing too close to the wall when he got hit in the head with the ball, his head bounced off the wall before he fell to the floor...knocked him out cold.  
I have a feeling they don't get to play dodge ball in school anymore.

[SwampDonkey]

We only did the dodge ball in the lower grades from grade 6 to 9. No one got hurt in that game, that I recall. We had rougher out door ball games. A volleyball isn't that deadly. Now give be a soccer ball and I'll do some damage. :D :D

[Den Socling]

Tom Terrific,

I'm sure you know that little influences like you can have a lasting effect.

Den

As for dodge ball, I read somewhere recently that it is catching on with adults. Leagues are being set up and people are finding it great exercise and a great way to unwind. Jeez. What a 'discovery'.  ;)