Wall Ball

Game Category: Net & Wall Games

Type of Activity: Individual Play

What’s It All About?

Sports such as wheelchair tennis, squash, and sitting volleyball can be categorized as net and wall games. In these sports, participants send an object into the opponent’s open space, trying to make it difficult for them to return it. These sports can be played using nets that participants send an object over, or against a wall. Implements are sometimes used to send the object. In this activity, participants are working alone to send and receive an object to sustain a rally against a wall.

Did You Know?

• Pickleball is a sport growing in popularity and participation. In Special Olympics Pickleball, participants may allow the ball to bounce twice before hitting it.¹
• In Wheelchair Squash, players use a racquetball-style ball with higher bounce, and allow two bounces per rally, similar to Wheelchair Tennis.²
• Sitting Volleyball involves rules that are similar to standing volleyball, but requires players to maintain contact with the court with some part of their body between the buttocks and the shoulders.³

Equipment

• 1 object to send per participant (e.g., jingle ball, beeper ball, utility ball, tennis ball, basketball, volleyball)
• 3 pylons per participant (or floor tape) to mark sending lines
• Wall space for each participant

Safety

For participant safety, please review the Disability-Centred Movement Activities safety page and the activity instructions prior to the activity.

Set-up

• Designate a playing area for each participant with space on a wall (e.g., gymnasium wall, outdoor wall).
• Have participants select the object they would like to send (e.g., jingle ball, beeper ball, utility ball, tennis ball, basketball, volleyball).
• Provide each participant with pylons or floor tape to mark 3 sending lines on the ground away from the wall and a safe distance from other participants.

Learn to Play

• The objective of the activity is for participants to successfully send and receive their object against a wall from various distances, in order to sustain a rally.
• Invite participants to position themselves at any of the 3 sending lines when sending the object to the wall to explore the amount of force they need to exert to send and receive the object.
• Assign the 3 distances on the ground a number (e.g., “1” the closest distance marker, “2” the middle distance marker, “3” the farthest distance marker).
• On the signal to begin, call a combination of the 3 numbers and participants have to send and receive from the corresponding distance markers. For example, if “3 - 1” is called, participants will send from the farthest distance marker, receive the object, and then send from the closest distance marker, and receive the object.

Action to Play

• Invite participants to explore the different ways to send the object to the wall. For example:
  • Send the object using an overhand toss, an underhand toss, kicking, or rolling.
  • Send the object with 1 bounce before it makes contact with the wall.
  • Send the object with their dominant/non-dominant hand.
  • Play standing, kneeling, or seated.
  • Explore placing a target at different heights on the wall to identify where the ball can hit (e.g., place the target on the wall closer to the floor and roll or kick the ball to the target).
• Have participants create a 5 x 5 foot square using pylons or floor tape roughly 1 foot away from the wall.
• Have participants assign each corner of their square with numbers 1 – 4.
• On the signal to begin, call a combination of the 4 numbers. Participants send and receive the object in a straight line toward the wall from the corresponding corner of the square. For example, if “3 - 2 - 1” is called, participants will send from corner 3 and receive the object, send from corner 2 and receive the object, and then send from corner 1 and receive the object.

Power All to Play

• Invite participants to explore the Action to Play co-created list of different ways to send an object when playing the activity.
• The objective of this activity is to work alone to create a rally while moving in their space.
• Place a variety of objects in a common space, safely away from participants' playing areas.
• Participants are positioned anywhere against a wall in the playing area.
• On the signal to begin, participants move to the common area to retrieve an object of their choice. They then return to their playing area to send and receive the object against the wall while being aware of other participants.
• Participants can elect to change objects at any point during play or on a predetermined signal to make it easier or more challenging.
• Participants begin sending and receiving the object to sustain a rally against the wall.

Play & Ponder

Use the following prompts throughout the activity to encourage participants to think about and apply the skills, concepts, and strategies used in the activity.

• Describe what you had to do to successfully send the object to the wall and successfully receive it.
• When receiving the object, describe what you can do and how your body is positioned.
• How can you adjust the activity to make it more challenging (e.g. alter the boundaries, implements, and/or objects)?
• How can you adjust the activity so that you are more successful at creating a longer rally (e.g., explore the use of different objects, alter the boundaries, implements, and/or objects)?
• When playing alone, what strategies can you use to increase your chances of success in creating a rally?
• Describe other sports, games, and activities that use the same skills, concepts, and strategies like this wall game.