My daughter is in a sports club after school. Each month, they play a different game.
Last month it was basketball. At the end of the month, they had a big game on Saturday. Actually, it was more of a very informal tournament. To my knowledge there were no winners, but several schools came together and played each other in a series of 5 minute games.
I’ll spare myself a bit of agony and not go over the basketball game in any detail, save to say that Michelle wasn’t the most accomplished player on the court, although she did have a remarkable talent for looking every direction except where the ball was and she managed to practice her handstands without seemingly being bothered by the other kids running all around her trying to play basketball.
This month it was kickball and, while I was prepared for more of last month, I was pleasantly surprised. Michelle was running hard, trying to catch and kick the ball, she scored several runs (including one home run) and got a couple players out.
She’s a little too small to have a powerful kick and, for some reason, she was kicking with her right foot, which, since she is left-handed, I assume is probably as awkward as if I tried kicking with my left.
This month, as with last, I was still amazed at how many kids didn’t seem to have a clue what they were doing. Despite having (supposedly) played kickball for a month, several of the kids didn’t seem to realize you had to run from one base to the next when someone kicks the ball. There were several instances where kids were tagged out because there were two people standing on the same base.
Not Michelle, though, she never made a tactical or rule error that I noticed. I’m really quite proud of her. She even stood up to bigger kids who were trying to hog the ball. In the first game, there was some kid on her team who was trying to hold the ball all the time, even if it meant taking it from other kids on his team. (Seen in this picture heading for Michelle to get the ball, but she ran around him with it instead.) You’re not usually supposed to have to work against your own teammates, too.
They didn’t have kickball, that I can recall, back when I was in elementary school. My first recollection of it is from Junior High. I can see how it would make a good substitute for baseball, suitable for younger kids. We enjoyed the game because you could bean the runners with the ball, if your aim was good enough, which made it a game of suitable violence for us – rather like a combination of baseball, soccer and dodgeball. There wasn’t much of that in evidence at this game, although Michelle did take one to the face while trying to field the ball.
Seeing as how baseball has been adapted, I wonder if Cricket could be similarly adapted. Kicket anyone?