2.0 Lizard (Lizzie) was also in attendance and was the secret weapon when we needed a breather.
Duvall may be the only person who can get YHC out early for a standard on a Saturday. I really do not enjoy running for the sake of running, but the 2nd F with Duvall was too tempting. Get your minds out of the gutter…
… and onto the fun and games. Late Friday night, I receive a phone calle from Kachow telling me the fields at BRP may be closed for a concert and that the second Jollyball game ever may not be possible. No problem, this whole Jollyball thing is a work in progress. Modify when necessary, right? I quickly scramble to come up with a backup plan just in case.
It turns out the rumors were true. Apparently you need to close the parking lot and fields by 7am for a 6pm concert. Fortunately, we were granted special permission to use the fields as long as we didn't use the soccer goals, which had been put away. Time to hatch plan B, which involved using trash cans instead of soccer goals. The initial suggestion was that the scoring would be a full contact, get the ball in the trash can by any means necessary, American Gladiator powerball style scoring, but wisdom got the better of that idea. Instead, the cans were placed at the back of the semicircle at the top of the goalie box on both sides of the field. The rule was you must leave from outside the semicircle (think the crease in hockey), when shooting the ball. Both the offense and defense must be outside the crease to touch the ball legally. Outside of that wrinkle, gameplay followed the general Jollyball rules, meaning you can use any body part to dribble, pass, block, or shoot the ball, as long as you don't hold onto the ball for more than 1 second.
Ramrod and Jolly were made captains and teams were chosen.
I could wax on and on about Tuck's shooting prowess, Utah's coast to coast goal, Ramrod's nifty spin move, THE Hall Monitor's studly defense (and airball penalty shot), and Duvall's valiant effort on brittle runner's knees, but then I'd be neglecting the other team, and in particular the MVP of the game, Bullseye. Props to Holiday on passing down his finest genes and props to whoever gave Archie the name Bullseye. The kid was on fire and let us know it everytime he scored. Well done. Jethro came out to see what the fun was about and showed solid skills. Kosar also seemed to pick the game up quickly and put forth a strong showing in his first Jollyball game, mastering the foot to hand dribble technique. But my favorite moment of the day was when Kachow ran by me (which happens a lot when you play with Kachow) and said something to the effect of "This reminds of playing with my friends when I was a kid, when you just get a ball and make up a game and play it." That is Jollyball. A bunch of guys getting together to have fun, adapting to the environment, occasionally making up new rules as they go- not to gain an unfair advantage but to add more enjoyment to the game.
And thus in its three week history, Jollyball as a sport has evolved into Jollyball as a game with loosely defined rules that fit into three overarching principals:
1) Create rules that suit the environment in which you are playing and items you have available to play with.
2) Rules can be made on the fly, as long as they enhance the game and are in the spirit of the game, which is the next principal:
3) Be creative and have fun
In that sense, Jollyball has been played many times before, on various fields in various neighborhoods throughout the world. It is played anytime, anywhere a group of 10 year olds gather on a field or in an alley and use sticks, round objects, buckets, fenceposts, and whatever other tools are available to create a new game.