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4 Fun Sports For the Great Outdoors

Think about the times you might have some downtime with your fellow Scouts. Maybe on a campout or after a meeting. That’s the perfect time to play sports.

No referee? No official sports field nearby? No problem. Here are four fun outdoor games adaptations that you can try.

game-1

TOUCH FOOTBALL

Our touch football-style game requires only a ball. The rest is up to you.

Depending on how many guys want to play, designate one quarterback and an equal number of receivers and defensive backs. It doesn’t matter what slot you start at. In this game, everybody gets to rotate and play each position.

The QB gathers his receivers and designs a play. The defensive backs do their best to cover the receivers and break up the pass. If you have an even number of Scouts, one position should be a designated pass rusher who counts to 10 then rushes the QB.

A completed pass gets 1 point for the QB and 1 point for the receiver who makes the catch. A pass breakup or interception gets 1 point for the defensive back. A sack (remember: this is touch football) gets 1 point for the rusher.

There are no first downs. A drive ends after four plays or a touchdown or interception, whichever comes first. A touchdown nets 2 points each for the QB and the receiver who scores.

After each drive, the players rotate positions. Once everybody has had an equal number of drives at each position, you total the points and see who wins.

game-2

SOCCER SHOOTOUT

It’s easy enough to get a game of pickup soccer going. You might not have a real goal, but the space between two trees works.

If you’re short on players, consider re-enacting one of the most exciting plays in the sport: the shootout, which pits one goalie against one player attempting a free kick.

If you have more than two Scouts, rotate guys in and out after each shot attempt. If you have just two players, switch back and forth between goalie and forward.

In real soccer, the goalie can’t leave the goal in a shootout, but who says you can’t tweak the rules in your game?

Players get 1 point for a goal when they’re on offense and 1 point for a save on defense. Give everybody an equal number of chances at each position and then see who comes out on top.

game-4

KICKBALL

Baseball’s a blast, but it’s a pain to carry bats and gloves on a hiking trip. As an alternative, consider kickball. Trust us — it was fun in the third grade, it’ll be fun now.

You know the rules: It’s like soccer-baseball. It can be played with a soccer ball or a softer rubber ball. You’ll need a decent number of Scouts to play so you don’t end up chasing a kicked ball through the woods all day.

Don’t worry about designating positions in the field. Just spread out enough so you’ve got most of the ground covered. You can use empty backpacks for bases. Just don’t stomp on them too hard.

When you were younger, you may have played with the rule that allows you to throw the ball at a runner to record an out. While that might seem like a good idea, keep in mind that you’re probably a lot stronger now than you used to be. A blow to the head with even the soft rubber ball isn’t fun for anybody.

And definitely don’t try that with the soccer ball. Instead, record outs the old-fashioned way — by touching the base before the runner gets there.

game-5

ULTIMATE

You wouldn’t dare go camping without a flying disc, would you? If you can throw a disc but you haven’t played Ultimate, then you don’t know what you’re missing.

It’s like soccer, with one major difference: You can’t run with the disc. Once you make a catch, you must wait for a teammate to get open and throw him the disc. When he makes the catch, it’s your job to get open downfield while he stays put and throws it back to you.

The ultimate goal is to pass the disc into the end zone.

End zones can easily be designated with trees or other landmarks. Ultimate can be played with as few as four players, two on each team.

Got more ideas for games? Share them in the comment section below.

47 Comments on 4 Fun Sports For the Great Outdoors

  1. Outdoor games for when it’s dark would be really useful — our troop meetings are at 7 PM, and the weather’s nice enough to be outside, but we don’t have a big enough collection of in-the/-dark games during the winter months.

  2. Our troop usually plays running bases with a tennis ball.

  3. Ultimate is boss: one addition to the rules.
    If your team drops the frisbee, the other team catches the frisbee, or the other team bats the frisbee down, it switches possession. There are also several other rules with less significance. Look it up for the official rules.

  4. scout from troop 47 // November 6, 2012 at 9:02 am // Reply

    i play ultimate frisbee and its really fun

  5. You can also play man-hunt infection at night with flashlights, where one person tags another, and they both are infected, the person tagging and the one being tagged. This continues, and eventually everyone is infected. There is nothing cooler on a campout when you are a child, than running at each other in the dark with flashlights, trust me!

  6. Pheonix Flame // October 10, 2012 at 7:11 am // Reply

    I love all these activities!

  7. when I played ultimate my troop called it ultimate frizbee it is a lot of fun!

  8. I am a girl, but I love outdoor games. I really like kickball and ultimate, but capture the flag is pretty awesome too. Soon I will have a birthday and I will use your ideas. Thank you Boys Life!!

  9. Capture the flag, red rover, and tackle football. with touch football it’s too easy to get “tackled.” Plus tackle football is 5x more manly.

  10. i play disc golf it’s really FUN!!!

  11. If you van find a big soft field, tackle football is fun too.

  12. Ultimate frisbee is our unit in P.E. I love it!

  13. i love games

  14. My troop leader says to not run in the campsite. So we would tell our spl where we are going(usually the nearest flat clear site) and we would have fun there.

  15. i play lacrosse and that is a fun game

  16. ultimate frisbee is a great game

  17. i love outdoor games like basketball

  18. I think you should include rules for capture the flag. A scout trip is always better with a good capture the flag match

  19. Eagle Trail // April 5, 2009 at 10:31 am // Reply

    Great games!

  20. mustang88220 // March 2, 2009 at 1:56 pm // Reply

    Track and football are great games to play if you can find an open field or empty campsite.

  21. cowboysfan#1 // February 9, 2009 at 6:33 pm // Reply

    when my pack has nothing to do,we play touch football.But my friends love soccer to o,but all of them are great.

  22. sports are alwas fun

  23. they are good but not as good as capture the flag my troop always finds a feild and when it gets dark we use glowsticks for flags

  24. My troop usually camps out on a mountain so all we can do is polish boxing and capture the flag but those are good games

  25. i like football

  26. really cool!!!!!!

  27. Its ultimate FRISBIE last I heard.But it is a fun game.Trust me I have plaayed it.

  28. hey dragon player that baseball frisbee idea is good i’ll try it… i just tryed it it is awsome good thinking

  29. kickball is awesome

  30. Ok, uuuuh… My troop plays football at meetings and at campouts all the time.

    And I’m sure there are other troops that do as well, so why is everyone acting like this is some awesome new idea?

  31. I know how to play steal the bacon

  32. i like kickball to much.

  33. philmont 09 75 // September 6, 2008 at 12:16 pm // Reply

    When my troop goes camping we always play football and ultimate frisbee great games for whne you have nothing to do

  34. This games are cool.

  35. What about games that encourage scouts working together for a common goal? I really like these kinds. It helps up learn how to work together and work on scout spirit. We learned a new one last night where 4 people hold hands in the middle. The rest of the troop or patrol are in a circle around them and use a ball to toss at the #1 scout of the 4. They can not let go hands and only the #1 scout is the goal so the 2,3, and 4 can act as a shield but must hold hands. If #1 is tagged he goes to the circle and the one in the circle who hit #1 with the ball becomes #4 and 2 and 3 move up to be #1 and # 2. This is a great game for any age scout.

  36. how about tag?

  37. I must admit that these are great games. I`ve done all of them except track. My favorite was touch football.

  38. dragon player // August 30, 2008 at 4:01 pm // Reply

    I like ultimate it is cool and kickball is awesome but I like Baseball frisbee better

    its like baseball but with a frisbee the pitcher throws the disc to the thrower (batter)

    if it is not a good throw it counts as a ball ( the thrower can move of the plate) if it

    is a good throw the thrower tries to catch it if they touch it and miss their out if they

    catch it they have to throw it and than run around the bases

  39. sportskid1996 // August 26, 2008 at 1:59 pm // Reply

    These are great games I really like touch football. If you don’t have a football you can wrap toilet paper with duck tape.

  40. those are pretty good outdoor games. Ultimate Rocks!

  41. I just love does outdoor games. They just are wonderful games

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