Byron Bay – Exciting basketball games – 4 November 2022

To conclude the school week students joined Dominic at our local basketball court to compete in some exciting basketball games.

Some student sported flip-flops so instead of playing a run-around game, everyone agreed to play stationary “shooting hoops” basketball games.

The rules:

1. Each person takes a shot from the free throw line
2. If they miss the shot, it is the next person’s turn
3. If they get the shot in, they move to the free throw outer line, and shoot again
4. If they miss from the free throw outer line, it is the next person’s turn, however when it returns to their next turn, they start from their free throw outer line checkpoint
5. If they get the shot in again, then they move to the final checkpoint the Three Point Line, and shoot again
6. Whoever gets to Three Point Line and then scores a three point shot first, wins the game

It was surprising to everyone how difficult it was to score from the three point line. After some turns Elmar emerged the victor of basketball games round 1.

The next game was a variation on the first but incorporated shooting from different angles, which ultimately proved too challenging, and we decided to call the winner midway through the game. The winner of basketball games round 2 was Xime, who led the game when we decided to stop.

At the end of the activity some students went off the work and others walked and talked with Dominic back to the school. Unwinding with basketball games was a great way to spend a sunny Friday afternoon, so much so that a couple of students asked if they could borrow the basketball on other afternoons to shoot some hoops with friends.

There are other fun variations on the basketball games we played, here are a couple of popular ones.

Around the world is a shooting skill game often done behind the three point line, but you can choose wherever you want the shots to be taken yourself.

The Rules:

• Players take their first shot to the side of the basket behind the three point line
• Once they get that in, they move to a 45-degree angle from the basket for another shot
• The next shot is taken directly in front of the basket
• The player continues until they have made it all the way around the perimeter of the three point line and back to the side of the basket position
• If the player misses a shot, it is the next person’s turn

This video shows friends playing around the world with their own variation of shooting locations.

Firing squad is a lot like around the world but you need a basketball for each player and it helps to have distinguishable basketballs.

Rules:

• Each player starts with a ball and starts at one of the agreed shooting points
• When the game starts everyone is able to shoot at the hoop all at the same time
• You are disqualified if you touch another players basketball
• The winner is the first player to make at least one basket from each of the shooting position

Once the game starts, it becomes chaotic under the hoop with players retrieving their ball but the chaos makes for a lot of fun.

Combining language learning with physical activities, like basketball games, has been found to increase language test results and test response times (Liu et al., 2017). Exercise improves your memory, sharpens your focus and produces endorphins, chemicals that induce the infamous post-workout euphoria.

Learn English in Byron Bay. Lexis English students study General English, IELTS, FCE, CAE, and English plus Surfing in a friendly and professional school right in the heart of Byron Bay and only 15 minutes from the beach.