Hello, We had seen photos of this kind of activity in our dad’s newspapers. But, we did not drive, so we took our bicycles and our mom’s brooms to the local school a block away. The bicycles were full size and the long handles worked fine. Kind of a horse polo game. But, the original round ball we used, just took off when we hit it with the broom. So, for our next day, we used a football. Now, it could be whacked as hard as we could hit it, but it would only go maybe 20 feet or so, wiggling around until we could pedal to catch up to hit it again. This activity caught other kids on the playground and our games got bigger. Then at one point, we all met at 9:00 am on a summer day and had to choose teams. By 11 am, the playground was officially open for all summer activity led by an adult supervisor and then she kicked us off the blacktop field. So, for a good two hours, we were pedaling like crazy, swinging those wooden brooms and whacking the ball toward the goal. Passing? Only, if one could see the outside guy pedaling faster than the one with the ball. When multiple riders went for a standing ball, it was mayhem, but in the times we played, only a few falls were actually done. A twisted front wheel and plop, the person falls. Etc. No one made the other guy/girls fall on purpose. Jnaki We stopped when the shorter bikes came on the scene and the larger kids rode them. They could be handled better and their swinging arms hit the ball better. Now, it was dangerous, but the larger kids started to take over our games. It was not as fun as when we started our own games. Did the games last all summer? No, the older kids took over with their older friends and now us, little kids were sitting on the sidelines watching. So, we did something else. Like, a "cross school," through the external buildings and in/out of the portable locations like a long distance motocross course. We did not know about motocross at the time, and called it an "all school race." Note: Now, our larger Schwinn bikes had an advantage. We were faster and had more bulk in between the portable buildings and so, if the little bikes were next to us, well... "Might makes Right..." YRMV
Mickey Thompson’s three valve small block Chevy heads. Photo credit to Engine Builder Magazine, the article is available at enginebuildermag.com
The Jalopy Journal
