Catchball in the UK

Catchball UK| International Catchball Federation

The Catchball Federation is spreading the word all around the world about the sport Catchball, and competitive catchball leagues for woman over the age of 25. Leading sports associations and community organizations recognize that Catchball has the potential to unify communities, empower women and built women's participation and leadership. This recognition is largely based on the highly successful catchball model developed in Israel over the past numbers of years, where women have led one of the most impressive revolution in women's participation in sport. Indeed, catchball has encouraged women to come together in a sporting and social setting, often after years of physical inactivity. Clearly, involvement in a team sport such as catchball contributes to the welfare and health of women and provides a means for maintaining a healthy and active way of life.

Catchball UK is run by Mr. Derek Peaple, here is a summary og Derek's lates activity with catchball in London:

Catchball Festival Fun for West Berkshire Children

Spurcroft children took part in the first ever Catchball event in the UK. The event was hosted at Park House School and 6 school teams were taking part in the pilot scheme. All the children were excited to be involved and learning a new sport. James Mandry, Sports Network manager introduced the sport to the children and before we began we took part in some warm –up fun activities to help us learn the rules of the game. We set a UK record in the “round the world” game which was all about catching and throwing the ball to each other over the net rotating as a team.

The game is played with 6 players and they each rotate to play in different positions of the court throughout the game. The game begins with one player serving from the base line and the ball being caught and thrown over the net by each team. The team can have a maximum of 3 passes if they like before they pass back to the opposition. Teams are attempting to outwit the opposition by forcing them to not catch the ball. As we played each game our team grew in confidence, learning new skills and progressing the game each time we played – we began to move better and react quickly to the play. We all loved the experience and had lots of fun. We all worked really hard and were presented with Bronze medals at the end of the mini-competition.

Well done to the team who represented the school : Johnny Way, Isaac Layton, Reece Kilroy, Alex Cracana, Lily Otorepec and Leila Colbourne.