Okay, here’s my blog post about playing games with a volleyball net, written from my personal experience:
So, I wanted to share some fun I had recently. We’ve got this volleyball net in the backyard, you know, the standard kind you can pick up at any sporting goods store. It usually just sits there, but the other day, I was thinking, “There’s gotta be more to do with this thing than just volleyball.” Turns out, I was right!
Getting Started
First, I rounded up the family. My kids, my wife, even the dog got involved (though he was mostly just chasing after missed balls). We didn’t really have a plan, just the net and a bunch of random balls – a volleyball, a soccer ball, a couple of those squishy playground balls.
The Games We Improvised
- Volleyball… with a Twist: We started with regular volleyball, but it got boring fast for the little ones. So, we made a rule: you could hit the ball with any part of your body. Head, feet, knees, even your butt if you could manage it. It got hilarious, fast. Lots of clumsy moves and accidental scores.
- Soccer-Volleyball: This one was surprisingly challenging. We used the soccer ball and tried to play volleyball, but only using our feet and heads. It’s way harder than it sounds! We had to lower the net a bit for this one, to make it somewhat achievable.
- “Keep It Up” Chaos: I threw all the balls we had over the net. All of them. The goal of this game? Just to get the balls to the other side, and make sure nothing touches the ground. Use anything, hands, heads, feet, just don’t let it touch the ground.
- Target Practice: I marked some spots in the yard with tape, on the other side of the net, of course. The goal was using the volleyball to aim and hit the taped places.
What I Learned
Honestly, the best part wasn’t any specific game, but just the messing around. We laughed so much. We made up rules as we went along, and some of them were totally ridiculous. My kids came up with some crazy ideas, and, I have to admit, they were often more fun than what I’d planned.
It’s so easy to get stuck in routines, isn’t it? But this little experiment reminded me that you don’t need fancy equipment or complicated rules to have a good time. Just a little bit of creativity, and a willingness to look silly, can go a long way. I definitely recommend trying something similar if you’ve got a volleyball net gathering dust. You might be surprised at how much fun you can have!
