OOP Chuck Duncan, Ph.D. Department of Kinesiology University of Louisiana-Lafayette   This is an excellent controlled competition game with a high potential for variations that make it appropriate for about 3rd grade and up. The original version came from the book Cowtails and Cobras II by Karl Rohnke and was called Anaerobic Tag. As I said, I have had great success with the game. The key to success is for teachers to modify the rules to meet the needs of their situation. Some of the best games I've seen had no winners after 15 minutes, but there had been a lot of great activity and fair play. In those cases, I would say that everyone was a winner. OOP stands for Object of Play and has a lot of room for variation in the rules. You need one soft and catchable item (rag ball, nerfball, foxtail sock ball, foam frisbee, etc.). Changing the item to be caught changes the catching skills a little bit and can make the game a bit different if it is played multiple times. Two teams play and they can be made up of varying numbers of players. I've had good success with 4 to 15 players per team (coed). An official starts the game by throwing the OOP up or out and the players try to get it for their team. I usually require the teams to walk (fast walking is good) when they play the first time. There is no body checking or body contact allowed. You determine the boundaries based on the team sizes and space available. Since there aren't any goals, boundaries are only to make the game safe and fair. If you allow running, the boundaries need to be closer to reduce the advantage for the athletes. Once a team has control of the OOP, they begin tossing it to each player on the team. All players must receive the OOP at least once and no player can throw immediately back to the person who threw it to them. Each time a player catches the OOP, they count out loud. For example, after control is gained, the first player to catch the OOP say ONE, the next player to catch it says, TWO, etc. When the OOP is dropped, it goes to the other team and they begin their counting. Each time the OOP is turned over, counting starts over. The teacher decides what the counting goes to. If you have small teams, set the number at about 3 times the teams size (e.g. team of four would have a goal of reaching 12 or 3 catches per member). If you match your teams up good, the OOP gets turned over a lot. Team members are allowed to intercept catches from the other team or knock the OOP to the ground. In those cases, the OOP goes to the other team ( the one that was not counting). When a team reaches the counting goal, the game is won. If one team reaches the goal without the OOP being turned over quite a few times, you need to adjust the teams for fairness. You will be surprised how much they like this game and how much heavy breathing goes on when they are just walking. After I go over the rules with the students, I remind them that the game is for fun and healthy activity. I ask everyone to raise their hand if they agree to play fairly and follow the rules. I have to see all hands and they always get raised. It just helps with reinforcing the emphasis on fun and activity over competition. You will have to remind them to count out loud until they get used to it. If the official doesn't hear the count, they can turn the OOP over to the other team. After that happens once, they will count loud. Good luck. If I didn't cover some rule, feel free to make some up if you need them. For more information on this activity, you can e-mail Chuck.

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