No. 3 – Basketball pins
How to prepare it
This is a game for children and for adults, which is also based on the PET bottle usage. We put the PET bottles in vertical position under the basketball stand. Bottles are filled with the water or with the sand and they are closed up by their upper screw lids. We put the first bottle under the middle of the basketball stand. Next eight bottles are put around the first bottle in the distance of about ¾ of the bottle height. At the floor plan the bottles are forming the regular cross (with the shifting of the cross in 45 degrees). The PET bottles are of the same height.
Comment
The game is illustrated on the photographs, which are a necessary help when running the game.
How to run the game
The players throw the ball into the basketball stand in the same way as the classical basketball is played. The player, which is throwing the ball, is standing in front of the bottles composition, in the distance according to the age and abilities of the players. The falling ball, thrown into the basket, falls into the bottles composition and makes some bottles to fall down. Player scores for the throw into the basket and for each bottle that has been hit and fell down on the ground. After the bottles are hit, they are put back in the position, where they were before. To ensure the fluency of the game, it is useful to mark the position of each bottle, e.g. with the colour chalk.
The variation of the game might be done when the game turns into the classical pins game. Players are throwing or even kicking the ball from the appropriate distance to the set of pins. The distance depends on the age and abilities of the players, it ought to be set so that the game is fluent and a little bit difficult. Another variation could be done so, that the players are throwing the ball sideward and they throw the bottle to the ground in front of the bottles, so the bottles are hit after the bounce of the ball from the ground. Then the scores are summed up for each fallen bottle.
Notice
The basket ring must be fitted with a basketball net in order to regulate the ball fall. On the illustrative picture the net is missing.
Pictures illustrating the description
© Rideg Ján – 2009