Stool Ball

Source: Games For The Playground, Home, School And Gymnasium
Category: BALL GAMES



_5 to 20 players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

_Hand ball._

A stool, box, or inverted pail is set in an open place, and from ten
to twenty feet away from this a throwing line is drawn. One player is
appointed stool defender, and stands beside the stool. It is well also
to appoint a scorer and linesman, to disqualify any players who cross
the throwing line, and one player to stand behind the stool defender
and return the balls that may go afield. The players, in turn, throw
the ball from the throwing line in an effort to hit the stool. The
stool defender tries to prevent this by batting the ball away with his
hand. If the ball hits the stool, the one who threw it changes places
with the stool defender; if the ball be batted by the defender and
caught by another of the players, the one catching it changes places
with the stool defender. The object of the stool defender should
therefore be not only to hold his place by preventing the ball from
hitting the stool, but to bat it in such a way that the other players
may not catch it.

This game has been very successfully adapted by adding scoring as a
feature of it; in which case any player hitting the stool with the
ball, or catching it when it is returned by the stool defender, scores
one point, while the stool defender scores one for each time he
successfully prevents the ball's hitting the stool. The player wins
who has the highest score at the end of the playing time.

This is one of the old games that has come down through
centuries. Chronicles of Queen Elizabeth's reign tell of the
Earl of Leicester and his train setting forth to play the game,
though it is supposed to have originated with the milkmaids and
their milking stools. In Sussex the game is played with upright
boards instead of a stool, forming a wicket as in Cricket. It
was formerly for women and girls as popular as the game of
Cricket for boys and men, and the rules of play are quite
similar.


Next: Stride Ball

Previous: Square Ball

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