Ball Games

For many people (and that includes me) working out in the water is perceived as fun. Adding some exercises or activities with a ball makes a class seem like play. Balls and fun just go together. I like to include fun activities occasionally as a mental break from the hard work of doing cardio, intervals and strength training throughout the year. During the holidays at the end of the year, when there is often so much shopping, baking, decorating, and entertaining stress, I like to tone down the training a bit and spend more time on fun and games. These can be relay races, obstacle courses and a variety of things with noodles, but nothing brings out the smiles like walking into the facility with a bag of balls.

You can find inexpensive play balls at discount and dollar stores. You want them to be approximately volley ball size. Take a little air out of them so that participants can grasp them, otherwise they can be hard to manage. You can do strength training exercises with balls. Push and pull them while jogging, lunging or squatting. Push them across the midline of the body or sweep them from side to side. Push them down under the water with a jacks tuck or Cossack kick. Put them between the legs and squeeze them for inner thigh work. With the ball between the legs go suspended and travel with breaststroke or reverse breaststroke. Use them for hand exercises. Squeeze with all five fingers to improve grip strength, or squeeze one finger at a time. For finger flexibility lift one finger off the ball at a time.

Then there are the games!

Eye-Hand Coordination. Have the class stand in a circle. Give them 1-3 balls to toss around the circle. Periodically add another ball to make it more challenging. Call out “Switch” and they must change from passing the ball clockwise to counter clockwise, or back to clockwise.

Pass the Ball. Form a circle with an even number of players. Every other person is on the same team. Give one ball to a player on one side of the circle and a second ball to a player on the opposite side of the circle. On signal, pass the ball from one team member to the next in the same direction around the circle. The first team to have their ball overtake the other team’s ball wins the game.

Ball Toss. Partners stand 6 feet apart with one ball between them. They toss the ball back and forth. Periodically have them take a step backward to increase the distance the ball is tossed.

Batting Practice. Partners stand 6-8 feet apart. One partner has the ball and the other has a kickboard. The one with the ball tosses it to the other who bats it back to the pitcher. Then they trade the ball and kickboard and change roles.

Walk the Dog. Divide the class into 2 or more teams, depending on the size of your class. You don’t want to have too many people standing in a line waiting for their turn. Give each team a ball and each person a noodle. Each person in turn keeps one end of the noodle in contact with the ball while walking to the turning point and back, where they hand off the dog to the next player in line. The first team to complete the relay wins.

Waiter Relay. Divide the class into 2 or more teams, depending on the size of your class. Give each team a ball and everyone a kickboard. The first person on each team balances the ball on the kickboard while walking to the turning point and back, then hands the ball off to the next person on the team. If the ball falls off the kickboard, that team member has to chase it and return to where they lost the ball. The first team to complete the relay wins.

If you have some other ideas for games with balls, put them in the comments section below.

Happy Holidays! See you in the pool!

Chris Alexander