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Feature Skill Games
Air
Control | Alligator River
What's
a High Impact Skill Activity?
To
be considered a High Impact Skill Activity (HISA), an activity should:
- Challenge
players to perform a particular skill
- Provide
many tries at the skill in a short period of time
- Be
a competition with clear boundaries and rules, winners and losers
- Allow
players to learn and improve through trial-and-error
- Be
accessible to new players yet challenging for experienced players
Air
Control: a HISA for Chipping
The
idea in Air Control is to chip over an opponent's box into the box
of a teammate (see scene below). You probably won't have a nicely
lined court, so mark the boxes with cones.
Official
Rules for Air Control 1
Court
Four large boxes are arranged in a row. Each box is fifteen to
twenty-five paces long. Larger boxes force players to try longer
chips.
Teams
and Starting Position Players pair off into teams. Each player
occupies a box two boxes away from a teammate, with an opponent’s
box in between. Each team has a ball.
Object
of the Game Players try to score points by chipping over an
opponent’s box to the box of a teammate. The first team
to perform ten successful chips wins.
How
the Game Proceeds Both teams begin chipping at the same time.
The ball must be moving when it’s chipped, and reach the
teammate’s box in the air. The teammate must then touch
the ball at least twice inside the box, and the team must announce
its point total. Players in the middle boxes may pause at any
time to catch or deflect an opposing chip, but must give the ball
back immediately. Each player must alternate between a right-footed
and left-footed chip.
Air
control isn't immediately accessible to brand new players. Their
chip attempts sometimes plaster opponents from behind. You'll probably
need a more basic HISA as a stepping stone . . . in this case, Alligator
River.
Alligator
River: A Stepping Stone for Chipping
Here,
players must chip over an imaginary river instead of over an opponent.
They still get many tries in a short period of time, but without
plastering opponents.
Official
Rules for Alligator River 2
Playing
Area Two parallel lines of cones, at least fifteen paces
apart, represent a river. The river should be wide enough that
players can’t chip over it too easily. If the players
are of vastly different skill levels, the river may be wider
at one end than the other.
Teams
and Starting Positions Players pair off into teams, and
each team has a ball. One teammate begins on each side of the
river, about three paces from the river bank.
Object
of the Game Teams try to score as many goals as possible
by chipping over the river. The ball must be moving when it’s
chipped, reach the other side in the air, and be touched twice
on the other side before it stops rolling.
How
the Game Proceeds All the teams begin chipping at the same
time. Players must alternate between right-footed and left-footed
chips. After scoring a point, a team must announce its total
score. The coach keeps time, and proclaims when the game is
over. The team with the most points wins.
1
Carrington, Russ, Thoughtful Soccer: the Think-First
Approach to Playing and Coaching (Spring City, Pa.: Reedswain
Publishing, 2002)
2
Ibid
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