Winterball

Setting: Intramurals

Season: Winter

Activity Goal

Participants engage in a fun activity in a winter environment to build healthy relationships and social connections with others and for additional opportunities to be active throughout the school day.

For participant safety, please review the contents of the Beyond the Walls: Safety Considerations page for information on Safety Standards, Winter Safety Considerations, and Outdoor Playing Areas and Surfaces.

Equipment

• Existing goalposts, outside basketball rims or hoops for goals
• Hoops
• Object to send (various sports balls, rubber chicken, disc)
• Pylons

How to Play

• Review the safety rules and activity instructions with participants prior to activity.
• Establish the boundaries for the designated play area and share them with participants.
• Divide the playing area into smaller sections to accommodate more teams and increase participant movement in the cold weather. Use hoops as goals and natural boundaries as end zones.
• Divide participants into groups to make an equal number of teams and assign them to one of the designated sections.
• The game's objective is to score by sending the object into the other group’s scoring zone.
• The game starts with teams on opposing sides of the playing area, with an opening tip-off, or jump ball, at the centre of the playing area.
• Participants are allowed three steps or five seconds with the object before passing it to a teammate or sending it towards the goal.
• Depending on the scoring zone established, scoring could reflect the difficulty of the goal scored (e.g., three points for passing the object into the end zone to another participant, two points for hitting the edge of the goal, one point for sending the object in or between the goal area).

Adaptations

Consider these tips to maximize the challenge and the fun for participants.

• Alter the playing area by increasing or decreasing the size of the playing area and the size of the scoring area.
• Increase difficulty by adding a second object to send.
• Consider allowing groups to score on either goal.

Modifications

Consider these tips to maximize inclusion and fun for all participants.

• For participants with limited mobility, have them and others stand or sit in the opponent’s end zone. For a group to score, they have to receive the pass in the opponent’s end zone.
• For participants who have challenges sending and receiving the object while moving, create a rule where participants cannot move when they receive the object. You can only move when the object is not in possession.