This game can be played with as little as two players or more and only requires one ball and a wall'

1
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 PONY or
HORSE, if time allows. The kids are probably
already familiar with the game of 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 dont 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 Player and Coaching Development