Ball is in Your Court

-Objective:

For various people to lead the group in a variety of exercises on the stability ball

-Fundamental Movement Skills:

Non-Locomotor
- Lift
- Pull
- Push
- Push up
- Up and Down

-Equipment List:

One stability ball per player
One tennis ball (or other ball or rubber chicken...) per group

-Equipment Link:

https://www.gophersport.com/fitness/stability-balls/ultrafit-stability-balls

-Setting Up:

Players are in a circle facing in so they can see each other.

-Instructions:

Give a tennis ball to one of the players.
The player with the tennis ball leads the group in a specific exercise on the stability ball. A list of exercises can be found in the Tips and Variations section of this game.
When the player with the tennis ball has decided the activity is over, she passes the tennis ball to another player. Or, if the other players think they have done the exercise long enough, they call out, “Pass the ball,” and the player with the tennis ball must pass it to another player.
The group continues with the exercise they are engaged in until a new leader with the tennis ball begins a new exercise. The group then follows the new leader in doing the new exercise.

-Questions & Notes:

All of the following exercises can be found in Lorne Goldenberg and Peter Twist’s book Strength Ball Training, Second Edition, published in 2007 by Human Kinetics (Champaign, IL).
- Triceps Blaster (page 237)—Players lean on their balls with their forearms and do push-ups. Their bodies are straight. \QQ AU/DE: Edit OK? Do they do just a single push-up? If so, how do we say that and keep the agreement of subject and verb correct?
- Ball Walk-Around (pages 170-171)—Players are in push-up positions with their feet on the tops of their balls. They then walk with their hands one lap around their balls.
- Jackknife (pages 26-27)—Players are in push-up positions with their feet on the tops of their balls. They then pull their balls toward them so that their heels almost touch their buttocks.
- Balance Push-Up (pages 46-47)—Players start in push-up positions on their balls with their hands on their balls and their bodies straight. Then they slowly bend their arms and drop their chests to the balls and then push back up again.
- Kneeling Rollout (pages 60-61)—Players kneel and place their balls slightly in front of them, placing their hands on the sides of the balls closest to their bodies. The players then rock forward on their knees and allow their balls to move away from them. Players keep their torsos straight and do not go too far so as to hyperextend their lower backs.
- Wrap Sit-Up (page 210-211)—Players place their feet flat on the floor and lie with their whole backs covering their balls. Then they pull their bodies up to 45-degree angles from their balls. Do not allow players to tuck their chins down.
- Abdominal Side Crunch (pages 214-215)—Players place their feet flat on the ground and lie with the sides of their bodies covering their balls, with their arms crossing their upper bodies. Then they lift their upper bodies until their knees, hips, and shoulders are all in line.