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Making Physical Activities Fun
with "Handicapping"

By Stan Cody, Author, Teaching Out of the Box

"Boys against girls." Whether it’s a spelling bee or a foot race, this approach has been used for centuries to get kids excited about competing with each other. Usually, it’s an effective technique.

On the other hand, it doesn’t work that well in real life. How many ladies do you see playing basketball with the Lakers or football with the Pittsburgh Steelers? None! I’d like to be politically correct by saying the sexes are equally blessed in the areas of physical agility, hand-eye coordination, speed, size and all the factors professional teams need in their players. But, sometimes the talent and agility is displayed in areas other than the ball field or the court. (Several of my female students excelled in individual sports such as long distance running.)

So I propose a handicap which, in combination with the camaraderie and spirit of the game or exercise it is used with, adds an element of pure fun to physical education and team sports. Both the boys and the girls will recognize the unusual twist you introduce to a game they thought they knew well.

Handicap Softball. Let the girls play with the traditional three bases and home. But get the boys to play with four bases and home. For the boys, third base will be located way out in center field and fourth base will be the same as the girls’ third base. The girls will learn quickly that, when first, second and third bases are filled, they only need to return the ball and touch the boys’ fourth base before the boy runner arrives to be called “out!”

Handicap Basketball. Let the girls’ team have seven, eight or nine players against the boys’ traditional five players. Have each boy wear a ribbon on the wrist of his normal shooting hand to remind him that, as a handicap, he is not permitted to dribble or shoot with that hand. (As a further handicap, consider having the boys shoot from in back of an eight foot semicircle, which can easily be marked with erasable chalk.) Talk about exciting! The kids love this sort of challenge.

Boxingball. I will leave you with a simple, fun game that I developed some years ago. My students played this game during the half time of a Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics basketball game. In addition to the handicaps used in Handicap Basketball (above), the boys can shoot from anywhere on the court with their non-ribboned hand. The girls have five players just like the boys, and each girl plays with one hand in a boxing glove. The girl players can hit the boys anytime they like. (Who won the game? The kids were having so much fun that no one cared.)

Have a little handicap. Have a little fun. Teach out of the box.

Stan Cody taught for 33 years in Southern California’s public schools. The author of Teaching Out of the Box, he can be reached at stan@stancody.com or through his website, stancody.com. His book is available at Amazon.com and through his website.

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