Where there are many playing, it is advisable to have two or three who take the part of thrower or It, in which case there will be two or three balls or bean bags in play at the same time, and the game is much more rapid.
If played in the schoolroom, a light gas ball or bean bag should be used. Elsewhere, anything from a light-weight hand ball to a basket ball would be suitable. Hard balls should be avoided.
This is an interesting and simple athletic event, as well as a good game. It is especially useful for players drilling on the handling of the basket ball or shotput, and is a good substitute for shotput for girls.
A full circle six feet in diameter is drawn on the ground. A heavy line is drawn across its center, which serves as a throwing line. The player stands in the circle and throws the basket ball from this throwing line toward other lines drawn in the throwing space as specified below, the ball scoring according to its landing in relation to these other lines.
[Illustration diagram: BASKET BALL DISTANCE THROW]
The lines drawn across the throwing space must be parallel with the throwing line in the circle. For players below the seventh year of the elementary school course (below twelve years of age) these three lines should be respectively twelve, eighteen, and twenty-seven feet from the forward edge of the circle. For players from the seventh and eighth year of the school course (that is, thirteen and fourteen years of age) these three lines should be respectively fifteen, twenty-one, and thirty-one feet from the forward edge of the circle. These measurements are for girls. For boys the longer distance given between lines will be found generally advisable, and they may even be increased.
The players are divided into competing teams, the players of each team throwing in rapid succession. Each player has but one turn, unless the ball should strike some obstacle before touching the ground, when another trial is allowed. A thrower must at the start stand in the circle and toe the throwing line, drawn across the center of the circle; in completing the throw he must not fall or step forward over the outer line of the circle in front of him. If at any part of the throw, from its start to finish, the thrower be out of the circle, it is considered a foul and does not score, the number of players in the team being counted as one less when the total or average is figured. The best form for throwing is that described for Battle Ball.