Pogosta Primary School, Ilomantsi, Finland
Games in Finland
KYYKKÄ - SKITTLES
Kyykkä is played on an even surface. There are two squares and a field between them. The other team’s playing field is the throwing field of the other. The squares are 5 x 5 m and the field between the squares is 10 m long. For young players the sizes are smaller, 3 x 3 m and 6 m.
The skittles are made of wood. They are like cylinders, about 10 cm high, diameter about 7 cm. There are 20 of them. They are placed on the front line of the square in pairs, at every 10 cm, starting from 1,25 m from the side line.
The bats are wooden, rounded with handles. They can be 85 cm long and 8 cm thick, with no weight limit.
A player tries to knock the skittles out of the playing field by throwing the bat. The team first throwing all the skittles out of the square wins the period. The points are the number of the skittles left on the other square. Then there is the second period and the points are counted together to get the winner.
FINNISH BASEBALL
You need a bat, a ball, gloves, a field and a plate. See the drawing of the field.
When the pitcher throws the ball vertically, the ball must drop on
the plate if the batter doesn’t hit the ball. The height of
the pitch must be at least one metre above the pitcher’s head.
The batter can hit three times.
The idea is that one team tries to score by hitting the ball and running through the bases, the other team tries to defend by catching the ball and putting the runners out. The difference between baseball and Finnish baseball is vertical pitching. Hitting the ball and controlling the power and the direction of the hit is easier. These things give more variety, speed and tactical dimension to the game.
The batter must get to the base before the ball. The player must advance from one base to another and back home. That makes a run.
If the defensive player throws the ball to the base before the player he is out.
If the defensive player catches the ball before it touches the ground the batter can’t advance.
This team is the offensive team and that is the defensive team. There are nine players in a team.
After three players are out the offensive team and the defensive team change sides.
In a game there are two periods of four innings each. A period is won by the team which scores more runs in its offensive innings. If both teams win one period, the game will be decided by an extra period with one inning and if necessary, with a special scoring contest.
If the pitcher makes a bad pitch, the batter can advance to the first base if it is empty. There can be only one player in the base. If there are runners on the bases, the point runner can advance to the next base for the second bad pitch.
A hit is foul, if the ball touches first the field outside the boundaries. A player can’t advance on the foul hit.
In P.E. lessons there may be more than nine players in a team and not all periods and innings. The important thing is that everybody has a chance to play.
(click on an image for a larger version)
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The pitcher throws the ball up. |
The batter swings. |
The fielders wait. |
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The batter runs to the base. |
The ball is thrown to the base. |
The batter waits to run home. |
The last pair out of the oven
You need an odd number of players. Players stand in pairs a queue except one who is standing a few metres ahead of the queue, his back towards the queue. He shouts: "The last pair out of the oven". The last pair in the queue starts to run on different sides and when they are passing the player standing alone he may start trying to catch one of them. If he catches one before the runners touch each other, he becomes a pair with the other runner and the one caught becomes the one who shouts next. There may be somebody standing as a post to mark the spot the runners must reach to be safe. The runners must stay on their sides when they run to be safe.
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The pair is out of the oven |
Running to catch and escape |
Jumping the squares
There are squares drawn on the field, for example two in line, two across and one square followed by two across before a semi-circle. The person takes a stone, puts it in the first square, jumps from one square to another on one leg, when the squares are across, the person jumps with both legs touching both squares, turns back at the end and comes back. Now the person throws the stone to the next square and starts again. If the player fails to throw the stone inside the next square, the next player comes in. The winner is the player who first goes through all the squares with the stone.
In another version the player may also try to move the stone from one square to another with the foot while jumping on one leg.
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Jumping on one leg |
Throwing the stone |
Turning at the end |
Who is afraid of the wolf?
There are three lines in the field: the end lines and one line in the middle. The runners are on the other end of the field, one person is standing in the middle line his back toward the runners and he shouts: Who is afraid of the wolf? Now the runners start running to the other end of the field and the wolf tries to catch as many as possible. Those he catches join him in the middle and there are more wolves next time. Finally there is only one person running and he is the winner.
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The wolf is waiting |
Three wolves trying to catch |
More wolves trying to catch |