Mat Ball

So, I've been teaching Physical Education for 15 years now.  I do my best to make my classes fun, engaging, and challenging.  When my students leave the gym, I want them sweating and smiling.  I want there to be a buzz about what just happened, and a thirst for more.  Now, by no means does all of this occur after each class, but after a Mat Ball game, shirts are wet and smiles abound.  And this is what keeps me grinning in a  profession I chose in 1990.

I first heard of this game from a colleague years ago, but have since adapted the rules significantly, dropping and adding parts to meet the needs of my students' abilities, class size, and gym facilities.  I believe this is one of the best assets of a competent teacher---the ability to be flexible and adaptable so that most, if not all students, are actively engaged.  The reason I stress this is because I have found this game to work with all age groups and sizes, regardless of the space or equipment.

If you are a P.E. teacher, you gotta give it a shot.  Coaches, feel free to take a break from your sport and use it as a fitness/fun day.  Take, steal, borrow.  Make it fun and leave them yearning for more MAT BALL.

Cooperative Game:  6 Base Mat Ball

Supplies Needed:  

1. large slow floating ball (or any ball you feel meets your students’ skill level) 
2. 6 large mats for bases (or 4 bases depending on the size of gym and # of students)
3. Inside area to play in

The easiest way to explain this game to students is to tell them how it is different from normal kickball. Here are the differences:

·         You can have as many runners  as you want on each mat

·         If a runner leaves a mat,  they cannot go back, they must advance to next base

·         There are no “base lines”

·         You must go around the bases twice to score a run

·         To get a player out on a kick, you have to tip the ball, using any style, for another player on your team to catch.  In other words, you cannot catch a kick directly and get the kicker out---you must tip, set, bump or knock it to another player on your team.

·         If the ball after being kicked hits a wall or ceiling first, it acts as the tip and you can catch it right away.

·         You may throw the ball at a runner to get a kicker out.  However, if the runner catches the ball in the air, he/she is allowed to throw the ball anywhere in the gym and keep on running.

·         If a runner is on any base, he/she is allowed to pick the ball up as long as one foot remains on base, and throw the ball anywhere in gym and keep running.

·         Runners may run at any time.

·         At the beginning of an inning if you were on a base when the third out was made, you go back to that base.

I FIND THAT IF I PITCH, THE GAME GOES WAY SMOOTHER.  I CAN KEEP IT MOVING ALONG AT A FAST PACE.  A GREAT GAME AND A FAVORITE AMONG THE STUDENTS YEAR AFTER YEAR.  UNLIKE NORMAL KICKBALL WHERE I FIND THERE IS A LOT OF STANDING AROUND—THIS GAME WILL ACTUALLY GET YOUR STUDENTS IN THAT TARGET HEART RATE IF PLAYED CORRECTLY.

 
Send me an email, and I'd be happy to forward you a diagram.
scotteberly35@gmail.com

Origins

I'm a gym rat.  I always have been, and I'm fairly certain I always will be.  I like the smell of the gym.  I feel comfortable in a gym; the hum of the lights is soothing.  I feel confident and at home.  
I practically grew up in the gym, and I have my parents to blame.  My father was a college basketball coach, which meant I had full access to the gym anytime that I wanted---which was quite often.  I was allowed to sit on the bench during the games and found myself spending countless hours in the gym during the summer working on my basketball skills.  Routinely, I would spend most of a morning in July trying to round up enough boys for an official full court game.  
This gym obsession was instrumental in me earning a scholarship to play basketball in college, as well as completing my degree in Health and Physical Education.  Today, I continue to spend crazy hours in the gym teaching, and still have a key - I find myself opening the doors to that wonderful aroma of sweat, basketballs and icy hot on my days "off", and sharing my gym passion with my own children.  They, too, marvel at the awesomeness of wide-open space, free to simply play.  

Instilling a love in the next generation

I have a plethora of gym rat stories, but enough for now, it is Wednesday evening and I have a pick-up basketball game to get to.  I'll grab my key.

Christmas Day, Eberly style, with my daughter and nieces