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Description

If basketball were played by dinosaurs with tiny arms, it would be a bit like this! A ball game that rewards teamwork, positional awareness, and quick passing between players (and it also looks funny)!

Resources

Soft Football, basketball or sponge football
Two goals (could use buckets/tables)
Bibs or hi viz vests, or some other way of distinguishing two teams

Instructions

Divide players into teams

Give one team hi-vis vests, bibs or similar , or some other way to make it easy to identify team-mates

Set up 'goals' at either end of the Scout Hall or outdoor pitch - could be buckets, or lay a table on its side, feet of the table against a wall to make an area into which to drop the ball. Players may not unreasonably obstruct the goal (e.g. sit on the bucket!) so that scoring becomes impossible.

Aim of the game is to score into the opposing goal. Goals are worth 1 point, and the team with the most points when time is up is the winner. Play for maybe 5 minutes (or any other time, but it can becoem an energentic game).

Toss to see which team starts with the ball, starting from the centre line of the pitch. Everyone is in their own half of the pitch at this point.

Players must always keep their elbows against their sides so that they have "T. rex" arms.

A player holding the ball may not take more than 3 steps. They can bounce the ball, catch it, then step again (like basketball).

(If players are very good at ball control, introduce a maximum number of bounces - say 3 - before the player must pass. It is difficult legally to tackle a player who has good ball control, because having to use T. rex arms means that attackers don’t have much reach. So we want to avoid players unstoppably dribbling down the field & scoringagain and again without anyone being able to stop them. Really we want to force players to pass as much and as rapidly as possible).

Players who have the ball may hand the ball to their teammates, throw it for a team-mate to catch, or try to score by throwing the ball into the goal area.

SAFETY: Players may not kick the ball (to prevent players kicking each other, or it just turning into football).

Opposing players may try to snatch the ball or intercept passes, but...
Players may not touch each other

Player in possession can turn their back on opponents trying to snatch, but need to bounce the ball after 3 steps if the are moving their feet to avoid snatchers.

Give snatchers only a moment to capture the ball -- if it becomes a tug of war stalemate, award it to the player who had the ball before. Others must let go, & the game goes on.

(Introduce a 'you must pass within 5 seconds' rule if players hold on to the ball too long. )


SAFETY: Players must stay on their feet - they may not dive to get the ball (to prevent anyone getting kicked or trampled or tripped)


SAFETY: If the ball is below knee height, there's a risk that players could bang heads bending down to get it. So...
If the ball is below knee height and there is a risk of banged heads, the referee calls "FEET". When "FEET" has been called, players may not bend down to pick up the ball. Players may now trap the ball under their foot, or between their ankles. First player to do this gets possession (referee adjudicates if it is close), and they bend down to pick it up without opposing players being allowed to interfere. Normal play then restarts with this player in possession of the ball.

Players may not travel with the ball under/between their feet- once they have posession, they must pick it up without intereference and ormal play resumes

The referee can call "HANDS" to cancel the "FEET" rule (e.g. nobody has trapped the ball and it has rolled to a player who has space to pick it up safely).

If someone's attempt to trap the ball has become too like kicking it and has given the team an unreasonable advantage, referee can decide to return the ball to where it was accidently kicked and give it to a member of the opposing team. Play on if that accidental (or deliberate really!) kick has made little difference or has benefitted the opposition.

RESTARTS:
After a goal, a player from the team who conceded the goal starts with the ball from the centre line. Everyone must be in their own half of the pitch when the game restarts after a goal.

Ball goes over a team's base line, but was not a goal (would be a goal kick in soccer) - a defending player makes a restart throw from the point on the baseline where the ball went out.

Ball goes over the side line (would be a throw-in in soccer) - possession goes to the opponents of the team who touched the ball last. A player makes a restart throw from the point on the side line where the ball went out.
Foul: the opponents of the team that fouled get the ball and makes a restart throw from the place the foul occurred.

Restart throws may be made with the full length of arms (like a throw-in in soccer). This is the only time players don't have to use T. rex arms. [The idea is to allow teams to clear the ball a long way so that this can break up an attack and reset the game significantly]

Tags

• ball game
• team game

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