Chapter 29

The referee puts the ball in play by tossing it to the center team (say the Whites, as shown in the diagram), and at the same time blows his whistle as a signal for the game to open. The referee also blows his whistle whenever a player is hit so as to be out (_i.e._ hit by a ball "on the fly," not on a bounce). The hit player at once leaves the field, and play is resumed by the referee's whistle and tossing of the ball to the center team as at the beginning. The referee also calls time for the close of innings. After the ball has been put regularly in play, teams may only secure the ball when it is "dead," _i.e._ when it has not just been played by an opponent, but has stopped, rolled, or bounced into its own court.

RULES AND POINTS OF PLAY.--After the referee has put the ball in play by tossing it to the center team, the player catching it runs to either the left or right boundary line of his field and throws the ball at one of the opposing players (Red or Blue). These players, meanwhile, immediately upon hearing the whistle to start, should have run toward the rear of their respective courts to lessen the chances of being hit. Should the White player succeed in hitting a player on the Red or Blue team, the referee's whistle is blown, the hit player leaves the field, and the game starts over again as at the beginning. Should the White player fail to hit one of the opponents, the latter try, in turn, to secure the ball before it rebounds or rolls back into the center court. The player who gets it either runs up to the boundary line and throws at the Whites, or passes the ball to some other player of his own team who does this. The Whites naturally scatter to the farther boundary line of their court to avoid being hit. Should the ball fail to hit a White player, it is most likely to go entirely across to the Blue court, where one of the Blue team should catch it, and in turn try to hit the Whites.

The end teams (in this case Red and Blue) play against the center (White), but not against each other. The center team plays against both end teams. Thus, a player in either of the end teams may be hit by a player on the center team, but it is not a part of the game for these end teams to try to hit each other. A ball thrown by either end team across the center court may be caught, however, by a player on the opposite end.

A player is not out if hit by a ball that rebounds, whether from the floor, another player, a wall, or any other object.

A player is not out if the thrower of the ball overstepped the boundary lines while throwing.

The only kind of a hit that puts a player out is one from a ball "on the fly" thrown from behind a boundary line.

Players may dodge in any way they choose, but a hit from a flying ball on any part of the person or clothing puts a player out.

At the close of each inning (of five or more minutes) the teams progress or change courts in regular order, from right to left. That is, the Blue team moves to the center, the White team to the left court, and the Red team to the right court. For the third inning another change is made in the same direction, the Reds going to the center, the Blues to the left court, and the Whites to the right court. Thus, in the three innings each team will have played in each court.

When a new inning is started and the teams change courts, all players who have been hit and are out return to their teams. Each inning begins, therefore, with full teams.

SCORE.--A score is made for each team for each of the three innings, and consists of a count of the players who have been hit (put "out") during the inning. The team wins which at the close of the three innings has the smallest score; that is, has had the smallest number of players hit.

It adds much to the interest of a game to have the score posted on a bulletin in sight of the players. But whether on a bulletin or card, the accompanying form is desirable.

This game was devised and developed by Mr. William A. Stecher.

SCHOOLROOM DODGEBALL

_10 to 60 players._

_Gas Ball._

The players are evenly divided into two teams. One team takes its place around the outer edge of the room; the players of the other team scatter through the aisles or seats, which latter should be turned up if possible. The outer team tries to hit the inner team with the ball, any player so hit taking his place in the outer team and joining in its play. The player who remains longest in the center is considered to have won.

Only a hit from a ball on the fly counts. A hit from a bounce does not put a player out. If a ball touches any part of the clothing or person, it is considered a hit. If two players are hit by the same throw, only the first one hit is considered out. Players may dodge the ball in any way. The ball is returned to the circle players by a toss from one of the inner team, should it be out of reach of any player of the circle team.

If desired, the hit players may leave the game instead of joining the outer circle. This leaves the teams intact, and each then keeps a separate score.

If successive games be played, the teams change places, the inner players going to the circle, and _vice versa_. The game may then be played in innings if desired, each team to be given three minutes in the circle. One point is then scored against a team while in the center for every player hit, and the team wins which has the smallest score at the end.

DOUBLE CORNER BALL

_14 to 100 players._

_Gymnasium; playground._

_2 basket balls._

This game is one of the comparatively few in which a large number of players may be kept actively engaged at the same time. The game was developed by Miss Caroline M. Wollaston of New York City, through whose kindness it is here given. There are practically two games going on at once, in which each player participates in rotation.

GROUND.--The ground for this game should be outlined in a square measuring about forty by forty feet. In each corner is marked a small goal, the two goals at one end belonging to one team, say the Blues, and the two goals at the other end belonging to the opposing, or Red, team. Near the center are marked two small circular goals for the throwers of the different teams. The thrower for the Red team stands in the center goal farthest removed from the red corners; the thrower for the Blue team in the goal farthest removed from the Blue corners.

Two basket balls are needed for the game.

TEAMS.--Any number of players, from fourteen to one hundred, may play. These are divided into two teams. While it is advisable to have the two teams even in numbers, an odd player may be assigned to either team.

Each team chooses its own captain. Each captain selects two goal keepers, players who can jump and catch well being best for this position. These two goal keepers are assigned to goals at the same end of the ground, each being guarded by guards from the opposite team. If desired, a halt may be called during the game, and the goal keepers changed for others designated by the captain. This is sometimes desirable to rest players filling this arduous position, and sometimes for the purpose of distributing among the players opportunities for this kind of play.

The remaining players are guards, and are divided by the captain into two parties, one for each of the opponents' corner goals. The following method has been found to work quickly and well for this purpose: The captain lines up his players and numbers them, taking any number that he chooses for himself. Those having odd numbers are sent to guard one goal, and those having even numbers to guard the other goal. Each guard should remember well his number, as there is a constant rotation of players according to number.

OBJECTS OF GAME.--The first object of the game is for a thrower on the center base to throw a ball to one of the corner goal men of his own team; each ball so caught by the goal keeper scores. One very distinctive feature of this game is the fact that each guard becomes, in turn, thrower for his team.

Another object of the game is for the guards to prevent the corner goal men from catching the ball. This is not only for defensive play, to prevent the opponents from scoring, but has a positive value, there being a separate guard score, each ball that a guard catches and holds scoring for his team. This scoring for catches by the guards has the advantage of calling for especially active work from the guards, with much jumping in it, and leads to skillful play for catching the ball so as to hold it instead of merely touching it.

START.--The game starts with Number One of each team in his respective throwing base in the center, the guards being disposed in one or two ranks around the goals they are to guard. Each center baseman holds a ball, which he puts in play at the referee's whistle, or other signal, by throwing to one of the corner goal keepers of his team.

Each guard, as he becomes thrower, throws only to the corner on his side of the field. For instance, the guards bearing odd numbers being on the right side of the field, when player Number One throws from the center base, he will throw to the corner man on the right. Similarly, when player Number Two takes his turn at the throwing base, he will throw to the corner goal on the left-hand side of the field, as his party of guards are stationed at the left-hand side.

RULES AND POINTS OF PLAY.--The game opens with guard Number One in the center base, ready to throw the ball to the corner. Each thrower has but one throw at a turn, whether it be successful or not. Immediately that a thrower has tossed the ball, he steps back to his place among the guards, and the guard bearing the next number steps into the throwing base. The players must keep their own watch for turns to do this, and each should therefore observe at the opening of the game which guard bears the number next before his. This will be a player in the opposite division of guards of his team, as the odd numbers are guarding one corner and the even numbers another.

When each player of a team has thrown from a center base, the numbers begin over again in regular rotation. Thus, if Number Sixteen be the last thrower, Number One follows him.

Whoever catches a ball thrown to a corner, whether it be the corner goal keeper or one of the guards surrounding him, throws the ball immediately back to the center base, supposedly to the next player, who should have stepped at once to the base when the previous thrower left it. Should this next player not have reached the center base in time to catch the ball, he picks up the ball and throws it to the proper goal keeper; but it behooves a player to be at the center base in time to catch a ball returned from a corner, because every such catch scores.

A ball caught on the center base is, of course, a return ball from the corner to which a predecessor threw it, and must be a fair throw, whether sent by one of the opponents' guards or his own goal keeper.

It may make clearer the rotation of the play to illustrate as follows: The game opens with Number One ready on the center base belonging to his team. His group of guards, that is, those bearing the odd numbers, are guarding the corner behind him on the right-hand side of the field. He therefore throws the ball on the referee's signal to the corner goal keeper for his team at the opposite end of the ground on the right-hand side. Immediately that he has thrown the ball, he steps back among his group of guards bearing the odd numbers, and Number Two of his team, who belongs to the group of guards on the left-hand side of the field, steps forward at once to the center base. Meanwhile, the ball may have been caught by the goal keeper to whom it was thrown, or by one of the guards surrounding him. It is at once tossed back to the center base from which it came, and Number Two guard should be there to catch it.

Number Two then throws the ball to the goal keeper for his team on the left-hand side of the ground. Whoever catches it at once throws it back to the same throwing base, and Number Three should be there to receive it, Number Two having returned to the ranks of his guards. So the game goes on, the guards each taking a turn at the throwing base, and each throwing the ball to the corner goal keeper on his side of the field.

Meanwhile, the same sort of game is being played by the opposite team, two balls being in play at once, and each guard taking part in each game for each team, according as he is guard around an opponent's corner goal or a thrower from the center base to his own goal men.

Each goal keeper and thrower must keep one foot in his goal or base. It is thus permissible for a goal keeper to step out of his goal with one foot, or lean far out of the goal to catch the ball. Of course the best kind of a throw to a goal keeper is a high curved ball that will go over the heads of the guards and fall within his goal. No guard may step within the goal he guards.

Violation of the rules about overstepping territory constitutes a foul, and scores for the opposing team.

Very alert and rapid play is needed to make this game a success. As one team (Blues) may play faster than the other (Reds), it is not necessary that Number Six of the Red team and Number Six of the Blue team, for example, should be on the center throwing bases at the same time. The two games go on independently of each other.

FOULS.--The overstepping of boundaries in ways not allowed by the rules score one for the opponents.

SCORE.--A goal keeper scores one point for his team every time that he catches a ball which has not been touched by one of the guards around his goal. A ball caught by a goal keeper after being touched by a guard does not score.

In addition to the score made by goal keepers, a guards' score is kept, each player counting the number of balls he catches and holds, no matter where he be standing, whether in his position as guard or in the center base from which he is to be thrower. Such a catch by a guard scores one point, the guards reporting their points at the end of the game. Touching the ball does not score under any circumstances. It must be caught and held.

Fouls score for opponents, as stated under "Fouls."

The score for the game for either side is the sum of all of the balls caught, according to the above rules, by the goal keepers and guards on that side. The game is usually played on time limits of from twenty to forty minutes.

For experienced players, scoring by guards may be omitted if desired. The particular object of this feature is to encourage guards to expert work in catching the ball, instead of merely interfering.

DOUBLE DODGEBALL

(See _Dodgeball_)

DRIVE BALL

_10 to 30 players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

_Basket ball; volley ball._

This is one of the most interesting games for players beginning to care for team work. The writer has known some boys to play the game persistently for several seasons in succession.

GROUND.--A court measuring from thirty to fifty feet in length by twenty to thirty in width is divided into two equal parts, forming two courts, each of which should be a little wider than it is long. A goal about two by four feet is marked in the center rear of each court, within the boundary lines. It facilitates the game if the end of each court may be a wall or fence, and thus make sort of a backstop behind the goal.

Each court has bases marked at even distances over its surface, wherein the different players stand. These may be marked simply as a cross for a footmark, or a small circle or square. There is no particular arrangement for these, the only object being to scatter the players, no mass play being allowed in the game.

PLAYERS.--The players, of no stipulated number, are divided into two equal teams. Each team appoints a captain, who stands at the middle of the dividing line and is responsible for the discipline of his team; a goal guard, whose duty it is to keep the ball from the goal and who stands in the goal; and from six to twelve players, each assigned a certain spot marked as his territory and from which he may not move more than two feet.

OBJECT OF GAME.--The object of the game is to throw the ball into the opponents' goal.

START.--The ball is put in play by being placed on the ground at the center of the dividing line between the two captains. At a signal from an umpire, each captain hits the ball with his fist. The ball is thereafter kept moving rapidly back and forth from one court to the other, hit always with the fist. After being caught or otherwise stopped, it should be bounced or thrown from one hand and hit with the fist.

RULES.--No player may move more than two feet from the base assigned him. At no time may players do mass work. Whenever a goal is made, the ball is again started from the center by the two captains. The goal guard may not step out of the goal, even with one foot. The ball must always be hit with the closed fist.

FOULS.--It is a foul to kick the ball; to hold it; to throw it with both hands or in any way except by batting with the closed fist; it is a foul to cross the dividing line. Each foul scores one point for the opposing team.

SCORE.--Whenever a ball touches the ground inside of a goal, it scores two for the batting side. Fouls count for the opposing side, as above stated. The game is played in three rounds of fifteen minutes each, with a rest of five minutes between. The teams change courts for successive rounds. The team wins which has the highest score at the end of the third round.

EMPEROR BALL (See _Captain Ball_--IV)

END BALL (See _Appendix_)

FIST BALL

_6 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium; parlor._

_Volley ball; basket ball; gas ball._

This game is very similar to Volley Ball, but differs from that game in the fact that the ball is hit with the fist instead of the open hand; that the ball may bound on the ground; and that the general rules are simpler. For large numbers two balls may be used, as described at the end.

GROUND.--The ground should be, if possible, one hundred feet long and sixty feet wide, with clearly defined boundaries. Across the center of the ground a rope or cord is stretched, head high, which divides the ground into two equal courts. If desired, each court may be divided into small squares, one for each player, to prevent mass play.

PLAYERS.--The players are divided into two equal teams, each of which scatters promiscuously over the court unless assigned to squares as described above. The players in each team should be numbered consecutively to facilitate rotation in serving. One officer will be needed to act as umpire and scorer.

OBJECT OF GAME.--The object of the game is to send the ball back and forth across the stretched cord, striking it only with the fist. The game is defensive; that is, the scoring is done by one party when the opponents fail to return the ball or to keep it properly in play.

START.--The ball is put in play by a regular serve at the opening of the game, after each point scored, and after going out of play. The players take turns in serving for their team, being numbered before the game opens. The sides alternate in serving after a score.

The player who serves the ball should stand at a central point ten feet from the dividing line, and may serve the ball in two ways. He may bound it and bat it with the fist over into the opponents' court, or he may hold it above his head, let go of it, and as it falls serve it with his fist. The ball must go over the line to be in play. Should a server fail in this, the ball must be handed to the opposite side, which then has a trial. After a ball has otherwise gone out of play, it is served anew by the side responsible for the failure.

RULES AND POINTS OF PLAY.--The ball must cross into the opponents' court above the cord to score or be properly in play.

A ball to score its highest (two points) must be returned after a serve without bounding, although any number of players may hit it or keep it in the air before sending it back over the line. A ball may bound once before being returned and score less (one point). It is out of play if it bounds twice without being hit between the bounds.

Several methods of play are permissible, but the rule is invariable that the ball must always be hit with the closed fist, and always from underneath, except for sending it across the line. It must reach the opponents' court from a blow and not from a bound. Either fist may be used in striking a ball, but never both at once. A player may "dribble" the ball in the air before batting it over the line to the opponents; that is, he may keep it in the air by hitting it from underneath with his closed fist ("nursing" it) until he is prepared to bat it with his fist. A ball hit with the forearm is considered properly in play except for a service. Several players on one side may play on the ball before sending it into the opponents' court. In doing this the ball may bounce once after every time it is hit with the fist.

A ball is out of play (1) when it passes under the line or touches the line; (2) when it touches the ground twice in succession without being hit between the bounds; (3) when it touches the ground outside the boundaries from a blow; (4) when it bounds out of boundaries. Whenever a ball is put out of play in these ways, it is sent back to the side responsible for the failure, and they must put it in play again.

Whenever a side scores a point, the ball must again be put into play with a regular serve, the sides taking turns in this, and each player on a side serving in turn.

SCORE.--The score is made by both sides and is for returning the ball. If returned to the opponents without touching the ground, it counts two points for those returning it. A ball which touches the ground once before being hit back over the line scores one point. The game consists of twenty-five points.

After each game the two sides exchange courts.

FOR LARGE NUMBERS it is very desirable to have two or more balls in play at once. They are served simultaneously from opposite sides of the ground, at the opening of the game. There should be one score keeper for each ball.

FOR THE PARLOR.--This game may be played in the parlor with a light gas ball measuring four or five inches in diameter, or with a child's gas balloon. The same rules apply as in other forms of the game.

FOOTBALL TAG

_5 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

_Football._

Each of the players has three points at the beginning of the game. The players are scattered promiscuously over the ground or gymnasium. One player, who is It, has a football which he kicks lightly toward any other player, the idea being to tag some other by mere touch of the ball. Any one so touched or tagged by the ball loses one of the three points with which he started, and also becomes It, trying in turn to kick the ball so it will tag one of his fellows. There are no restrictions as to the moving about of players to evade the ball. The latter must not be touched with the hands, nor may it be kicked higher than the chests of the players. Any one infringing these rules loses one point for each offense, and remains It until he successfully tags some one according to rules. Any player who loses his three points is out of the game, and the player wins who remains longest in the field.

HAND BALL DRILL

(Preliminary Ball)

_1 to 100 players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

_Hand ball; bean bags._