Five sports and games we should totally reclaim from our childhood

Staying active is much easier when you’re having fun doing it

By Rebecca Peterson, Staff Writer

Sports are not for everyone. However, everyone can find a sport they like. Unfortunately, it seems as though some of the most entertaining sports and games from our childhood have been cast aside in favour of more “serious” sports such as soccer, hockey, and football.

But just because freeze tag doesn’t have an Olympic Team attached to it, doesn’t mean we should abandon it now that we’ve become, to an arguable extent, adults. So in honour of the forgotten games of the elementary school playground, here are a few fun sports we should bring back into our lives.

1. Capture the Flag

The Hunger Games has nothing on the intensity levels that a good, rousing game of “capture the flag” can achieve. The competition is fiercely cutthroat. As a child, I remember drawing up battle plans and solemnly discussing war tactics with other 10-year-olds. Imagine what this game would look like now, amongst adults.

It’s far easier to get wrapped up in a game if there’s a common goal to work towards, with many different factors in play. Who will be the unsung hero who rescues people from the opposing team’s “jail?” Who will act as decoy to lead enemy players away from the path of the fastest sprinter? Who will climb a tree, risking life and limb, to retrieve the flag for their team and bring it across the dividing line? And what penalties will we, as adults, put in place for the heinous offence of puppy-guarding?

2. Manhunt

Similar to capture the flag, this modified version of tag provides a narrative to get the adrenaline pumping. However, unlike capture the flag, this game is less about strategy and more about tapping into our primal instincts. The childhood version of this game mostly involves running laps around the school and trying to fool your friends into thinking you’re still one of them so you can get close enough to tag them.

However, the more “adult” version of this game is often played in the dark with flashlights and radios, bringing the game to a whole new intensity level. My one suggestion would be to play this game in a public park that is known to be safe, and to let the local authorities know not to worry if they get a call about an angry mob chasing that one last lone survivor.

3. California Kickball

Baseballs are very hard and can cause a lot of damage when colliding with the face. Footballs are pointed at either end and can also cause a lot of damage when colliding with the face. Anyone who’s taken a soccer ball directly to the gut off the foot of a well-muscled and merciless player can attest to the force and power with which it can knock the air clean from one’s lungs.

However, the balls employed in California kickball are very soft, and far less likely to cause internal bleeding if propelled into a defenseless body part. It does not take a particular amount of skill to roll the ball towards one’s opponent, nor does it take much skill to kick a ball twice the size of one’s head. It’s a good excuse to get out, enjoy the spring sunshine, and form grudges between opposing teams that will last for decades.

4. Dodgeball

Many of the merits cited in the paragraph directly above this one do not apply to dodgeball. The sole purpose of dodgeball is to vent your rage and anger by hurling things at other people and hoping you don’t miss. Invite your ex, their new significant other, that guy who owes you money, and that one person from your English class who keeps stealing your pens without returning them. Deal with all your petty annoyances in a fun and healthy way, but remember—it only counts if you hit them below the face and above the belt.

5. Red Rover

There’s a chance they may have banned this game from elementary schools since my childhood, but regardless, this game is actually a perfect chance to network with your coworkers, classmates, and peers. Forget awkward, joyless name games during company workshop sessions—what better way to sear someone’s name into your mind forever than to watch the person attached to it come barreling towards you with the sole intent of trying to break either your hand or your arm to crash through the barrier you’ve created with your fellow teammate?

If nothing else, the pain and fear will bring people together, as well as the civil suit presented to your boss for suggesting red rover as a team-building exercise in the first place.