Snowball Alley | Playworks

To develop strategic thinking and agility.

Skills Practiced: Throwing, catching, evasion, jumping and running.

Clearly define the safety rules:
- Rolling the ball underhand only. Demonstrated this and have all players practice with an imaginary ball.
- All balls should be low to the ground, below players’ knees.
Teach and give a fair consequence for throwing balls above the knees, such as telling the leader why it is safest to roll the ball below the knees or running to a designated spot on the playground before returning.
Divide the fairly group into two teams.
One team lines up shoulder to shoulder at one end of the alley.
Divide the second team in half. Each half stands outside either set of cones, with the alley in the middle.
Explain the rules and ask the players to explain them back to you.

Find a rectangle area and create an “alleyway” with the cones. Spread out the balls outside the alley.

When the teams are in their positions and ready, give a signal to start the game.
The running team now has ten seconds to run from one end of the alley to the other.
As they are running, the other team attempts to roll the “snowballs” underhand and hit the runners below the knees.
Throwers must stay behind the cones when they roll or it doesn’t count if they hit someone.
If a runner gets hit or does not make it to the other end of the alley in ten seconds they cheer in a designated area.
When all of the runners are eliminated the teams switch roles.

For more advanced players, allow players to throw the ballsÂ underhand below the waist or knees.