Foosball

Last night at youth group we played one of my favorite games... feels like I say that a lot, but human foosball is definitely in the running. I've played several varieties of this game, but I think I've perfected it in my setting. We occupy the entire fellowship hall (a large mostly rectangle room) and line it with chairs facing out of the playing field. Then as we form teams we actually just form lines of 3-5 students who hold hands and face alternating directions lining up between chairs like a foosball table. The chairs become anchors for the lines and to ensure that the kids stay true, we use waste hose to connect each line to the chair anchor. Then I give some quick instructions about not getting hurt and that if they knock over their chairs they will lose a point, and we're off.

When we're playing with 30-40 people, multiple balls are necessary. I like to use a variety of sizes and styles of balls: nerf, inflatables, and a few kid-kick balls (the kind in the giant towers at walmart for a few bucks). Then as a leader I run around encouraging, teasing and chasing after balls which have gone astray while the kids bop balls back and forth.

As with most of my games I pretend to keep points, but I never actually do. If it seems one team is winning too much I start assigning disabilities to the winning teams or I will alter rules to make it more even. And every few minutes of play I stop the game, have each line move one row closer to their goal and the forward most team to retreat to their defense. That keeps the lines fresh as they meet and kick against new players. The real key to the game is the waste hose. it's so useful in keeping kids in a line, but also allowing them to move a little bit so that no balls become stuck between lines.

Along with Foosball, we also played a quick name game in the beginning that asked kids to get to know their neighbor. first I asked ids to share names as one person in the middle pointed to different people and asked "do you know your neighbor" and counted to 5. After several attempts to get to 5 before they could respond, the middle person said to change places if... kind of working in a "train wreck style game" Then we learned new facts like where they were born, farthest away from home, middle name... The game worked fine. it was kind of a mix of several games, but it was a good mix to get kids loose and learning about each other. I should have partnered them up myself after the game instead of letting them move to find groups, because that would have forced some new relationships during the foosball game, but as it was, the kids were standing next to their friends and playing against other friends, so it was just fine.

After foosball we had a large group talk about Philip and the Eunuch - Acts 8. I identified 5 things that philip did that made a difference in the Eunuch's life: running alongside, sat down, saw the bigger question, shared his life experience, and then shared an experience. And then we applied those 5 things to how we can make a difference in relationships we already have. Small group followed with a pretty intense conversation about friendships and how friendships change - thinking specifically about how to help friends grow deeper.

We concluded the evening by revisiting the baptismal promise and how that moment changed our lives. We then remembered our baptism by passing around a bowl of water as we sang and put the sign of the cross on each others foreheads, repeating the words: "you are a child of God, Jesus loves you and so do I." This was a beautiful ending to a powerful night of conversation and fun. The balance was perfect - lots of fun, and lots of depth in conversation.