Back Yard Sports - What did you play?

[asmith]

Was having a good laugh with a bunch of mate about backyard sports, primarily backyard cricket which is played by all in Australia. Any Aussie will tell you the general rules, over the fence on the full is six and out, tipsy run, one bounce one hand, under-arm bowling to your little sister, can't get out first ball, electric wicketkeeper and then the taping of the tennis ball to optimise swing.

The reason I have a scare above my left eyebrow is from an attempted catch that would have been a screamer had the Hills Hoist not got in the way, all part of the game of backyard cricket.

We were killing ourselves remembering stories about our backyard sporting prowess, tell me about yours?

[Habanos2000]

One of my favorites was "kick the can". Not so much a backyard sport, we played it in the alley's in Chicago. For those not familiar with the game you find an aluminum can, flatten it, throw it down the alley as one kid runs to get it and the others hide. Kick the can back to a common area and try to find your friends that are hiding. If you find them you need to run back to the can, stand on it and call them out, otherwise the "hiders" can run and step on the can before being caught. Great simple fun!

[SandmanTR]

Two words...

...Lawn Darts. They sure don't make entertainment like they used to.

We spent many an afternoon trying to kill each other all in the name of entertainment. Gone are the days when kids had to go outside to play.

[First Lady]

Chris you know you can now add throwing a boomarang as a back yard sport

Me personally being a good Italian girl grew up playing bocce, soccer, hide and seek (hiding from mum and dad ) and not sure if anyone outside of Aussie will know this - Red Rover

[Habanakane21]

Whiffle Ball: The balls were plastic and you could throw crazy pitches just by holding the hole in different positions. Drop balls, sliders, risers, curves.knuckle balls. The bat was long, skinny ,plastic and yellow. We had at least 20-30 kids come over and play in our backyard. Home runs were on top of my house or deck (center and right field) then the neighbors fence was a home run in left field. 2 strikes your out 2 foul balls your out. Bases were 20 yards apart. Our backstop was a huge fishing net the my dad hung. We even had benches. Man I miss those days. I tried teaching my son the game.... he was like" you did what...and why? things change1

[SandmanTR]

Chris you know you can now add throwing a boomarang as a back yard sport

Ahhhhh. Almost forgot. Probably equally as dangerous in the hand of an unskilled user.

[Scarhead]

One of my favorites was "kick the can". Not so much a backyard sport, we played it in the alley's in Chicago. For those not familiar with the game you find an aluminum can, flatten it, throw it down the alley as one kid runs to get it and the others hide. Kick the can back to a common area and try to find your friends that are hiding. If you find them you need to run back to the can, stand on it and call them out, otherwise the "hiders" can run and step on the can before being caught. Great simple fun!

Hello fellow Chicagoian. Kick the Can was a favorite pastime for us. We mustn't forget the ever-popular "Hide and seek," also known by other names such as Hide n' go seek or Hide n' seek, that we played on those warm summer Chicago evenings.

[Fuzz AI]

Two of my favourite childhood games were:

"Wall Ball" or "Brandings"

Equipment: Tennis ball and a wall (brick or concrete)

Players: Minimum 2 (but the more the merrier)

Rules: Player A (the Brander) stands a couple of meters away from the wall whilst Players B,C, D etc are against the wall looking the brander. The brander tries to chuck the tennis ball at the ground to bounce it into a player to "brand" them. If a player gets hit, they are out. If the ball hits the wall and bounces back, the game continues. If a player manages to catch the tennis ball, he becomes the new brander and the old one goes up against the wall to receive a free hit for getting caught (if using a wet tennis ball, hitting the head makes a sweet *chock* sound!! ). The game ends when all the players (ie targets, chumps, victims, etc) are out.

Variations: Multiple branders when players numbers are high enough, no bounce required for branding (much more painful!!).

And of course, a Sydney schoolyard game you gotta play at home is "Handball" or "Slogging"! Kids with Italian/Greek friends loved going to their houses to play as they all had concrete backyards instead of grass!!

Equipment: Tennis ball and a hard flat area (backyard, carport, driveway) marked off into sqaures

Players: Minimum 2

Rules: Imagine table tennis where you are the paddle. Each player stand in a designated square. One player at the head square is designated the "Server" or "King". The Server serves the ball by bouncing it first in his square into another players square. The player returns the serve to any other player by using their hand and hitting or "slogging" the ball first in their square and then to the other players. You must hit the ball before it bounces twice in your square and it can only bounce once in your own after hitting. If you fail to hit the ball before it bounces twice or it bounces twice in your own square after being hit, you lose and have to move to the last square. If your serve goes out of bounds, doesn't bounce in your square first, runs (multiple bounces or rolls in your square), then you are out.

Variations: "Wall Ball" (not to be confused with the Wall Ball/Brandings) - instead of squares you use a wall to bounce off. Any player can hit the ball, but cannot hit it twice in a row (you must bounce it towards another player). Wall ball can also be part of the standard game where a wall exists next to a square. This was quit popular in school corridors or against buildings.

[LeafLover]

Growing up in Hawaii, we would have rock fights. Just plain flinging rocks at each other trying to hit each other. What the hell were we thinking?!

[dicko]

At home- backyard cricket, 6 and out, certain trees are catchers, auto wicky. Also just kicking the footy around (AFL).

At school- "king of the pack" (AFL marking contest with a bunch of people) and "barcode" (like hacky-sack with a choc chill carton, if it lands with the barcode up, the person who dropped it gets punched!)

[tmac77]

Other than the normal backyard sports, football and cricket while living in England and hockey in Canada, we also used to play British Bulldog.

For those not in the know about this game, basic rules were, to run from one side of the yard to the other to a safe area without getting caught by the bulldog in the middle. If you were caught you also became a bulldog and the last runner was the winner.

Game got pretty rough as we played by the rule that the bulldog(s) in the middle had to stop the runner's forward progress for the amount of time that it took him to yell out 'British Bulldog one, two, three'. This invariably resulted in a full on tackle version of the game, when not played on grass, led to more than just a few scrapes and bruises.

[benjaminbbush]

Gals and Guys, I grew up out in the country so our fun was a bit different. Three quickies for ya:

1. War with .410 shotguns. Yes it is exactly what it sounds like. You split into 2 teams. You could not shoot anyone less than 50 yards away. At that distance with birdshot in the .410, it would only sting---ALOT! Wearing heaving hunting clothes helped. Anyone who has been hunting and been "peppered" knows about this. Luckily, no one got hurt bad enough we had to tell parents. This was during my teenage years with some cousins that were truly from the backwoods.

2. Dirt Rock Wars-We lived on a dirt road that would be graded by county equipment periodically. This would leave hand sized rocks made up of dirt and clay. You gather your ammunition, your brother gathered his and you set up forts about 20 yards apart. Then you start the war-think snowball fight only with dirt rocks. The one that went crying to mom lost! I actually sent my brother to the hospital with this one when I planted a dirt rock in his left eye. No lasting damage done though. This was the under 10 years old game.

3. Golf with a baseball bat and a pinecone-We had plenty of pinecones and a baseball bat-enough said. No real rules just whack away. We did learn that the only caveat is for the observer to not stand within the path of the golfer's swing. I was standing too close one day while my brother was swinging and he missing the pinecone but tagged me over my left eye for 10 stitches and a concussion! I still say that I won because he was the one that went crying to mom while I stood there and bled. Again, this was an under 10 years old game.

Yes, thank you all, I grew up EXTREMELY rednecked!

[Dbone]

As a young and adventurous boy I would play backyard doctor. Get the neighborhood girls to sit on my playground slide and...

NO REALLY

When I was that age Photon or Laser Tag was really big. Also, Watch Your Back was terrorizing. You'd get about a dozen or so and begin walking around your house at night (had to be pitch dark). At some point the last person in line would get yanked out of line and hide in the forest. Eventually you'd look behind you and see no one, and you never knew when you where going to be next. Could be one, two, or three times around until you had the poop scared out of you.

[Dbone]

Growing up in Hawaii, we would have rock fights. Just plain flinging rocks at each other trying to hit each other. What the hell were we thinking?!

Lol - even lava rock at that?

[Montaigut]

Does Ringolevio ring a bell with anyone out there?...

[Fuzz AI]

Does Ringolevio ring a bell with anyone out there?...

A Spanish game where Ringo tries to quit the Beattles?

[scinmyheart]

whiffle ball all the way...can't ever get enough of whiffle ball

and football, of course...always tackle...and basketball as we had a hoop in the garage

and since we had a big oak tree in the yard...acorn wars

and chasing after the mosquito truck (actually an old pick up truck with an old black man in the bed running the machine) spraying DDT...damn that stuff smelled good

[Nocoins]

Two words...

...Lawn Darts. They sure don't make entertainment like they used to.

We spent many an afternoon trying to kill each other all in the name of entertainment. Gone are the days when kids had to go outside to play.

This girl I knew in school took a lawn dart to the skull. She survived, and got a nice trust fund too!

[thechenman]

We did several things...

Whiffle Ball which has been described in detail.

We'd do target shooting with a .22 rifle.

Croquet

Catch w/baseball

Frisbee games like Ultimate or Frisbee golf

Dodge Ball

The best was Butts Up, or its derivative Balls Up (Butts Up)

[terrantheman]

I'm also a fellow Chicagoan. We were pretty lucky as kids as having an empty undeveloped double lot down the street. We would play everything in there Football, Baseball, Baseball 500, Soccer, Pickel, Dirt Bike rallies(with out own built ramps). It was ashame when they finally built condos there but that's what happens to prime property. In our alley we played basketball and we pretty much just made **** up as we went along as far as games go.

[JohnnyC]

One of my back yard sports consisted of British Bulldog, just like my neighbor TMac77. These games became very physical and downright nasty at times. It is a wonder we all did not end up crippled. Now a days we are worried if our kids ride a bike without a helmet.

During the summer months road hockey dominated the neighborhood. In the winter months ice hockey was king. Every home seem to have an outdoor ice rink...no fences at this time. You could skate from one end of the neighborhood to the other. Those were the days.

[Fuzz AI]

The best was Butts Up, or its derivative Balls Up (Butts Up)

I remember playing that! We called it Wall Ball (not to be confused with the other two Wall Ball games I posted earlier). Though we never threw the ball back at the wall... we always tried to peg the thrower! Seems some of the variations are similar to ones we played in here.

[El Presidente]

Slingshot Brandy.

1. Spend the morning with the street urchin mates finding the right branches with appropriate fork. Whittle away and sandpaper it.

2. Find an old tire tube. Strip it to appropriate lengths.

3. Carve up a sand shoe into the right sizes for the pouch.

Test out on birds.

War games for the afternoon until someone was bleeding and told his/her mum.

Parent street meeting where all slingshots confiscated.

Start again next day.

[Fuzz AI]

Slingshot Brandy.

1. Spend the morning with the street urchin mates finding the right branches with appropriate fork. Whittle away and sandpaper it.

2. Find an old tire tube. Strip it to appropriate lengths.

3. Carve up a sand shoe into the right sizes for the pouch.

Test out on birds.

War games for the afternoon until someone was bleeding and told his/her mum.

Parent street meeting where all slingshots confiscated.

Start again next day.

Geez Rob, you guys were doing it wrong. We used a bit of PVC pipe and and the finger from a rubber dishwashing glove. With the right amount of tension you could put a steel ballbearing through a fence post!

[rdb6]

Growing up in the outer boroughs of the big city meant big backyards were pretty scarce, small yards were what we had. We played hide-n-go-seek, ring-a-livio, war, football. We played and played and played. We played street games as well, such as; punchball, box ball, stickball, box baseball, stoop ball and so many more. It was a great time to be a kid.