by Tricia Gordon

Created on: May 06, 2008   Last Updated: May 20, 2008

Since childhood, summer has always been my favorite time of year. My friends and I would count down the remaining school days, fervently planning the ways in which we would spend our summer, cramming in more fun than each day could possibly hold. That was the magic of summer vacation-no more pencils, no more books, you know the song-days full of nothing but time to play!

We didn't know it then, and even if the grownups told us, we wouldn't have believed them. We'd have thought it a conspiracy to ruin our fun-grownups always seemed good at that, didn't they? How could running around til you thought you'd drop be exercise? Exercise was something you did in PE class; it had no business poking around our summer games!

And summer games-we had a gazillion of em! Our backyards became playgrounds. We played the "net" games, like Badminton and Volleyball, sometimes without the net. We also played the various baseball-type games, like Wiffleball and Kickball. We played various forms of Tag, like Freeze-tag and Prison-tag. And then, of course, as days grew hotter we added another skill level by turning on the sprinklers as we played. Playing a game as you get sprayed in the face at varying moments, and as you try to keep your foothold on slick grass, definitely taxes your coordination!

Game sets are readily available at your local Kmart or Walmart. You can save some money by buying a multi-game set, like the one from Spalding that contains equipment for Badminton, Horseshoes, and Paddleball. You can also combine things you have at home with pieces of the sets, so you can play other games that aren't included in the set. For instance, you can use a beach ball you already own and the Badminton net (from the purchased set) to host a game of Volleyball.

You can also put an adult spin on your favorite childhood games by hosting tournaments. You can have team t-shirts made up (or buy an inexpensive mutli-pack of t-shirts and some Sharpies to make your own), and have everyone involved chip in for a trophy, which gets passed each year to the winning team (who also gets gloating rights until the next tournament). The summer can culminate in a backyard barbeque, with the losing team buying and preparing all of the food and drinks for the winning team. This can foster good sportsmanship, and comradery among the participants. Besides, who doesn't love a summer barbeque? Good food, good friends-that's what summer is all about.

Although times have changed, our need for exercise and our love for competition have endured. Summer fun is as close as your own backyard. And now that we are grownups, we can classify our silly summer antics as "exercise," so we can keep our dignity intact. What are you still doing here? Go out and play!

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