Ball - An Introduction
One of the very first improv games I remember learning was “Ball”. And then I remember Tim Orr teaching us the game on his first trip to Beirut in February 2010 and telling us it’s one of their favorite games. They play it every time they rehearse and we were going to play it every day in the coming 10 days with him because it’s not only fun but very important to improv. We were extreme beginners then and most of us came from the theatre world. Most of us could not understand how such a game could relate to improv at all.
“Ball” (as we call it and like most improv games it probably has many other names it goes by all over the world or different groups probably call a different game “Ball”) is a very simple game. The group stands in a circle and starts throwing a soft ball in the air. The goal is to keep the ball in the air without catching it (so basically by just hitting it). There are a couple of rules to take into consideration; 1) the same person can’t hit the ball twice in a row, 2) the whole group has to count out loud how many times they hit the ball before it hits the floor. This, of course, makes groups aspire to higher and higher numbers. These are the basic rules. The ball can hit walls or ceilings or chairs or anything that’s in the room and the counting continues. Only when it hits the floor does the counting restart. Players can hit the ball with any part of their body.
Photo by @guillaumedegermain
Ball was super fun. And we did learn a lot from it. But at the beginning, we loved it mostly because it was fun. And because of that, we played it every time we gathered to train or rehearse as well. I also put it as the first game in every session of my courses (it still is, even if with better understanding as to why now). So since then, I’ve been playing ball at least twice a week and with so many different groups from all over the world. If I can make one conclusion about “Ball” after all those years of playing it, it is that “Ball” really encompasses every skill required to improvise. You may not be able to imagine that if you’ve never played it. So I highly recommend that you do.
All of those years playing “Ball” and with so many different groups have made it possible for me to write a whole book about it (and improv) based on my reflections. I don’t know if this is a myth or a fact (actually I can check by asking any one of the people involved in the story), but Tim once told us (I’m not sure if this is what he told us or how I remember it) that sometimes 3 For All would meet to rehearse and they would just play “Ball” for 3 hours and call it a good rehearsal. Mind you, for 3 For All to rehearse, it meant that Stephen Kearin had to drive all the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco for the rehearsal with Tim and Rafe Chase and then back again. So, imagine if this story isn’t a myth!
Here, I will start sharing my reflections from playing “Ball”. I don’t know if they’ll really eventually become a book because I really feel that they’re that rich, yet I don’t trust my writing discipline to actually embark on such an endeavor. As a matter of fact, another thing I really fear from undertaking such a task is my certainty that I’ll definitely not be able to reflect on everything that “Ball” has to offer and I’ll be doing it an injustice by naming just the ones I found out. When I play “Ball”, I never tell the group why we’re playing it or what we learn from it. I always fear that by doing so, I’ll be limiting the whole universe of lessons and skills that “Ball” can give them by making them focus on the few tens of things I have time to tell them about. This fear is till with me as I write this and that is why I’ll keep this an ongoing project. Even if it becomes a book, I know that there will be a part 2, and then a part 3, and then a part 4, and then as many parts as possible until I die. So come back here and check what I’ve learned from “Ball” throughout the years, and also, please do share with me what you’ve learned from playing it; maybe it reminds me of something I had forgotten (very possible) or directs me to a new discovery (more possible) or I just include your reflection, too (most possible).