Hey Mom / Dad, Can you come out can

“ I ” go out to play

?

This game can be played with as little as

two players

(or more) and only requires one ball and a wall.

The wall needs to have some type of a marking a few feet off the ground (this could be a line made with chalk, or a line of bricks or tape, etc) and there needs to be some boundaries. The first player “serves” the ball against the wall (with a volley from the end line) and the second player can either get to the ball directly off the wall (before it bounces) or can get it on the first bounce. The rules can depend upon the participants and each player is either allowed one touch, or if decided ahead of time, or two touches. This second player must play the ball back onto the wall so that it hits the wall above the line. If this is accomplished, the first player must do the same again and so on. The first player to not get the ball back, above the line, loses the point.

The first player to 21 points wins.

If you want to work on volleys, limit this game to one touch soccer. If you want to work on receiving balls, allow two (or even three touches).

There are so many variations of rules for this game. The person who wins the point could be awarded the next serve (like in tennis), or each player could get 5 consecutive serves and play the best of five … wins.

If you have three players, they would go in order (player 1 serves, player 2 returns and then player 3 returns etc ….three misses your out…, If you have four players, you could play doubles or teams.

With the coaches’ imagination,

you could turn this into a similar version of allows. The kids are probably already familiar with the game of “PONY” or “HORSE”, if time “pony” in basketball but always be clear with the rules upfront.

(Variation)

Have them call a “tic-tac-toe” square made on the wall with duct or masking tape and with the older and more experienced kids, have them call what part of the body they have to volley with.

Example:

left thigh -

top right square

…etc. it can become quite the innovative challenge if encouraged. Set up a tournament for the season (A vs. B, C vs. D, 1 vs. 2, etc.), let the kids know what letter or number they are and when they come a little early to practice they play “SOCCER PONY” and let you know who won their match and then they will move on to the next opponent until everyone has played each other, 1-point for the win.

(Variation)

Home work for the week, this will encourage the kids to get together on their own and challenge each other, without any adult supervision.

This will be important to their development and when issues arise, they will have to solve them amongst themselves. Interesting, kind of like real life!

By now your complaining

that you don’t have a kick wall or brick wall to the back of your garage, well think of this …, what if you played this game on the ground? What if you went to the hardware store and bought a can of landscapers paint or a bag of flower and made your “Tic -Tact -Toe” grid on the grass or on the driveway with some pastel chalk?

It's important to only play this game using a wall that doesn't have windows (or anything that will break) and only play it with permission from the people whose wall it is. WYSA soccer field had a kick-wall built to practice striking the ball and those types of walls are excellent to use. Or, see if there is a wall on a tennis court that can be used (with permission).

Introduce this game to kids, and given the opportunity, they will frequently play this whenever they have the opportunity.

Keep those creative soccer juices flowing and keep it

SAFE

and

FUN …

for the kids.

Les Ahern ( 348-8927 ) Westerly Youth Soccer Association P layer and C oaching D evelopment