Striker Ball for Grades K-5

What's up PE Nation!

Today I share how we run Striker Ball for K-5 and why it fits so well as a follow-up to Foursquare and Gaga Ball. I break down the setup, the rules that keep it safe and fair, and the simple ways we teach kids to settle disputes fast. 

• why Striker Ball works as a progression from Foursquare and Gaga Ball 
• simple setup using medium cones and court circles 
• objective of scoring through cone goals while defending your own 
• ball height rule to keep strikes low and controlled 
• rotations for K to 1 to keep play simple 
• numbered positions and serving rotation for grades 2 to 5 
• “no neighbor outs” rule to prevent cheap scores and teach awareness 
• dispute process using group voting or replaying the point 

Take care,

Dave

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Transcript

Welcome And Game Overview

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello and welcome to the Super Science Physic podcast. My name is Dave, and today I want to talk about Striker Ball. It's a really cool game and all my students seem to enjoy it K through 5. So without further ado, here we go. Alright, P Nation, welcome in. So Striker Ball is a game that I will not take credit for because I did not make it. I've seen online. I don't know who to give credit to. I'm sorry, but um it's a great game and it's a great follow-up to Foursquare and Gagaball. Now you don't have to do Foursquare or Gagaball uh at all, but it's it follows a natural progression for my unit. Um it's of course Gagaball is more of a um you know a moving target kind of thing. Um if you have it, and if not, it's okay because striker ball is a lot like Gaga Ball, just without the tagging of the feet or legs. Um Foursquare is uh just this natural progression from well, striker ball is from Foursquare. So um it just it really worked well in my unit of like net wall games, and Gagaball is kind of a an extra game. We just kind of throw in here

Setup With Cones And Court Lines

SPEAKER_00 1:39

and there as far as like rewards, and um, it is a great game for learning. Well, Gagaball, I I tell the students we it teaches me a lot about their character. It really does, as far as uh, you know, if they're being honest, if they're playing fair, um, all sorts of things. But um Foursquare, which I just did a podcast on uh not too long ago, is um, you know, I I do these, I do the K through five, but in a different way. So just going back to Foursquare for a moment, you know, I didn't do the exact rotations um with K and one, but I started to do the rotations second grade and higher, and then I added some fun things that they could just do their own stuff at the end. As long as they play my way first and they know the actual rules. Uh again, that's a whole other podcast. You want to check that out. But um, Striker Ball is just fantastic. The kids absolutely love it. Again, K through five, all the kids have enjoyed it. So let me go through all the things here. Um, we'll make this a boomer so I can break this up a little bit. So, number one, we'll do the setup. So here we go. Alright, for the setup, you need uh cones, basically. Uh medium-sized cones. I wouldn't say the little ones, the big ones you can use. I did use them for one quart. Um, not the real, real big ones, but um kind of medium cones, I guess that go to about your um, I don't know, your knees, maybe. Those are the best ones, at least I I found for this game, because they're more of a marker as well, as far as um the height of a ball. So if you have basketball circles, like you have a basketball court, I use the circles like in the court as your striker ball circle. And I put six, I make six goals with the cones, and the students have to stay on the lines and defend their goals. So they're trying they're they're just trying to um, I guess I'll go with the objective as well. I was gonna do a boomer on the objective, but I'll just talk

Objective And Ball Height Rule

SPEAKER_00 3:39

about it. The objective is to score on your opponents and block the ball um that's coming towards you, like stop them from scoring, and you score some on somebody else. So the way to do that is to strike it with a a gaga ball type, you know, kind of whack it. Okay, you're kind of whacking the ball, and you have to keep it lower than I say about your shins. So if it's if it if it's as high as the cone, you're out. All right, so there's there's different rules for different, I do different rules for different grade levels and different rounds for different grade levels. So um let's talk about that next. We'll go to the rules since I already did setup and objective. So let's go to the rules.

Rotations And Grade Level Variations

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Okay, along with I guess the setup is um there's six students in in play, like in the goals. And then there's a line of students trying to get, you know, they're lining up like in Foursquare, um, trying to get like they'll rotate in. And I try to keep that no more than eight total, if I can. So that means there's six in, there's two out. There might be three at the most. It depends on the the grade levels and how big the classes are. But even three out is it's fast. So in this in this game, they and you can play it different ways. This is how I play it. In K through one, K and one, they again they whack the ball like in Gaga Ball. If you get scored on, you just rotate, you you give the ball to the next person that's coming in, and then they serve. So the person coming in serves, they just take your spot. And you know, I make it again, I try to make it real simple. It just that that's it. They switch over the person in line, and that person in line serves. And by the way, I'm gonna go through these rounds because these rounds are the same. It just the rules are a little different, a little different. So round one, they're just kind of whacking it with their hands. Round two, I use the plastic like peckleball paddles, and they have to whack it with the paddle. I do have some better paddles as well, and I don't use those. I used to, and it's it was a big mistake because they break them and they just whatever. It's not good. So I use the plastic, kind of shorter paddles, and they kind of whack at them. That's round two. And then round three, they get to choose either paddle or no paddle. And the kids like that. It's a big um kind of thing, like a big uh discussion. It's a good question. Like, what do you like better, paddles or no paddles? Why? Um, and kids have some really interesting you know thoughts on that. Some kids love the paddles, some kids don't like them at all. And so I again round one these round these three rounds are the same for all kindergarten through fifth. Round one, hand, round two, paddles, round three, decide. And so that is uh those are the rules and and the rounds. Okay, again, if it goes through your cone, you are out. And um that's you know, K through one is just simple. It's pretty simple. Two through five. Now what I do, because it's again we're outside, I draw with chalk numbers one through six. So, like in four square, again, some people play differently. I have the students come in on number one and number four serves. So in this, they come in at number one and number six serves, and they just rotate and they try to make it to number six and stay there. So it's a rotation when you come in, you always come in at number one and you try to rotate number six, number six always serves. Now the other rule is, and I know I've seen this online as well, you can't get your neighbor out. And that's a big deal because um it happens a lot, actually, even by accident. Um, I say they can they can tap it to their neighbor, but if their neighbor, and their neighbor has to attempt to hit it, they can't just like let it go through on purpose. But if it goes through, and sometimes it's just a deflection, um you have to, you're out. If you get your neighbor out, you're out. Because it's it's easy to just kind of slam it in your neighbor's uh goal um if they really wanted to. So I tell them they can't, they have to be a good neighbor. I tell them like state farm, they have to be a good neighbor. Um and so there's a lot of neighboring there. And then I don't do that I don't usually with K through one, K and one, because they don't quite, you know, they don't quite get that. Or it's I just want to keep it simple. That's all. Um they can get it. I think with one first grade class, I did tell them about that because it kept happening. And so I made that a rule for them. But for the most part, K and one, uh, I don't do the neighbor thing. And that's one of the that's a big rule though, as far as the neighbors. Um, because it's it's a fast game and they have to be aware of who's next to them and things like that. So those are the main rules. And now I want to talk about how to uh settle a dispute in actually foursquare uh or striker ball, uh maybe gagaball. We'll talk about that next.

Handling Disputes With Voting

SPEAKER_00 8:29

So disputes are next. Okay, to settle a dispute. Now, I tell them in a lot of things we do, and I know I'm sure you do as well, rock, paper, scissors solves a lot of things. However, when it comes to well, who's out, like in in Foursquare, did it hit the line or didn't it hit the line? You know, in um in Gagaball, did it hit their ankle or not? Um, those aren't really rock, paper, scissors situations, I tell them. That is a, hey, let's vote on it. Did it hit uh let's just talk about gagaball, did it hit that person's foot? We'll take a quick vote. If you know the majority or a lot of people say yes, then that person's out, and that's just how it is. And then some kids get upset, but you know, I don't think 20 people are gonna, you know, target somebody. They would say, they're targeting me. No, they're just trying to play the game fair. And, you know, same thing with foursquare, if hit the line or not hit the line, or whatever. And same thing in striker ball, if the ball, it's usually if the ball's too high. Was the ball too high, or do they hit it, you know, did they mishit it or whatever? The first thing I tell them to do is vote on it as a group. And if they all vote one way, then that person's out, or that person's not out, or whatever. And if they can't decide, they replay it. And it happens a lot in Foursquare, especially, but even in Striker Ball, they replay it. So if they can't decide, they replay it. I tell them I used to do that when I was a kid. We just replay it, just replay it, replay it. Now, you if you get it, if they're all voting one way, especially if that happens, this happens in Foursquare as well. I know this is in a Foursquare podcast, but like this the person serving, let's say, will they all vote him out and be like, no, just replay it. It's like, no, they all voted you out. You gotta go out. Sorry. And remember, they do they get right back in. This is not an elimination game where they're out forever or whatever. So, you know, they're out for 30 seconds to a minute. So those are the main ways to um settle disputes. I tell them all the time. Vote on it or replay it. So um yeah, those are the main rules of strike a ball and you know how to set it up. The kids love it though. The kids absolutely love strike a ball. Even on some fun Fridays, they will ask for that. Like I'll bring out cones and they'll set it up, and they'll just run it. So they love strike a ball. And yeah, so those are the main rules and how to set

Cowbell Tip And Closing Plugs

SPEAKER_00 10:47

it up. And now it is time for your cowbell tip of the day. All right, so I'd say for your tip of the day, I'd say take a look at adding striker ball to your either net wall game uh unit or some kind of yeah, like a striking unit. Um, not striking as far as striking a fielding, but you're striking the ball like in again, like a four-square, you're rotating, um, but you're striking it like obviously gaga ball. So add it to a unit that you can, and again, the kids love it, but they also learn the rotation, they learn how to settle disputes, they learn, you know, how to uh play fair and work together um to you know have a fair game and a nice game. Um most of the kids do really well with this game and they love it. And so add striker ball to your PE program, and that is your cowbell tip of the day. Thank you everybody for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it. As always, go to super sizefized.com for more information and check out my former podcasts or articles on these games and other things that you could find at my website and even in the show note links, as well as my book, High Fives and Empowering Lives. It's about a physical educator's journey to become a better teacher. And with that, have a great summer if you're on summer break. Have a great day, week, weekend, whenever you listen to this, and let's keep pushing our profession forward.