Well, that is what we call it. What is the game? Well year’s ago when I was just a tyke, sort of like Kyler is a tyke, we used to play ball. We played ball all the time – football, baseball, basketball, any type of ball we could. Well we needed to create a ball game to be played in a small backyard that wouldn’t upset the neighbors too much. That is where Beatball came in! Beatball was a game that we would play all the time. It was basically baseball with a beach ball. We laughed and had a blast until someone would hit the ball into the “comic book” ladies back yard. She was the “comic book” lady because she had a comic book store. She would get our beach balls and keep them unless my older brother Rich could throw me over the fence quick enough to get them first.
Well, that was the beginnings of Schmeezeball. When I got to Seymour Heights church we needed an activity for special occasions. Beatball came to mind, we had fields that were close to us and we changed the ball to a kick ball. We tried several different ball sizes until we came up with the one we used today.
The small one we tried first … I could blast it about a mile, and it wasn’t too fair. So we went to the super big one, but the smaller kids would hit themselves in the head with the bat after a ricochet. So the middle size seemed to be the best fit. We needed a name and we had a youth group that we called the “Schmacks.” Nate Karnes came up with the Schmeeze ball name. He actually got a marker out and would write on the ball – “official Schmeezeball.” The rules soon developed to make it a game that would not be athletically inclined. You can hit the Schmeezeball anywhere – absolutely anywhere and it is a hit. Backwards, forwards, over the fence and run till your tired or you get out. You can make an out by your ball being caught before it hits the ground, or you get thrown out at first or you get hit with the ball like kickball. It is a combo of kickball and baseball. With some other twists in it. You can have as many players on the same base as you wish. Only catch is … if you are on base when your time to bat is … it is an out. Also, you can keep running around the bases as many times as you wish. Only catch to that is that you cannot pass the runner in front of you.
Well, that is the idea of the game. We play pretty regularly. It is a lot of fun. As long as we don’t get too competitive at it. Anyone can be good at Schmeezeball, some are better. Sluggo is one of the best catchers I have ever seen, he is a lefty and can throw any bunters out very quickly. Ryno and Zach cover the third base lines like vacuum cleaners. The spin that is put on the ball makes it very hard to catch at times. Fools are quickly made of very good athletes. Some will hit the ball very hard and immediatly fall coming out of the batters box, like Suzie and Eb.
Schmeezeball is a great time to learn to enjoy hanging out with one another. Feel free to come out and join us anytime and be prepared to act foolishly!
Schmeezeball’n
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