Marseilles council OKs Scout’s gaga ball court

It’s a game that Marseilles Eagle Scout William Stockman has enjoyed at summer camps, and he wants everyone else to enjoy it, too, whether at camp or not.

For his Eagle Scout project, Stockman has proposed and had approved by the Marseilles City Council a plan to put in a gaga ball court, to be located near the city’s baseball diamonds at the corner of Sycamore and Commercial streets.

It’s really fun to play and a really fun activity for everyone.”

—  William Stockman, Marseilles Scout

That location was chosen so ballplayers and their siblings can learn and play it often, with the city’s concession stand and adults nearby whenever needed.

“It’s really fun to play and a really fun activity for everyone,” Stockman told the council.

Gaga ball is a fast-paced, high-energy variant of dodgeball, a game in which players strike a ball – often a foam dodgeball or a rubber kickball – with the intent of hitting another player on or below the knee, eliminating that player from the court.

Participants can play as individuals or on teams, and play continues until there is one player or team remaining.

If a player touches another with his hands, the person who touched is out, as is any player hitting the ball outside the court, or pit.

The pit, the heart of Workman’s project, will be an octagon with fencing three feet high and eight feet long. He will be using wooden planks to enclose the area, but those can be made of a variety of materials, from netting to inflatables.

His also includes a layer of sand covering the bottom to make it easier to level and to move and land on if a player falls.

The game can be played indoors as well, minus the sand and with a foam ball and folding tables turned on their sides to create the pit.

“It is a very popular game at Scout camps and church camps,” Marseilles Boy Scout leader Catherine Scheib said. “Go to any Scout camp, and they’re playing it, having tournaments of it and doing all kinds of other stuff with it. It is a well-organized game that all the kids are very familiar with this game, up through high school age, and seem to enjoy.

“All you need is a dodgeball, a pit and a couple of kids, and you’ve got some fun.”

The game’s origin is unknown, but legend has it that it came to the U.S. through Scouting, Scheib said.

She said that, with the approval phase now done, Workman would like to begin the planning stage, where the amounts of wood, sand, posts and the costs are calculated, along with who the volunteers to help construct it will be and when they’re available to work.

“Then, you start the building,” Scheib said. “We’re hoping to get a hot foot on this and get the building done before the ground freezes, hopefully by the end of the year and definitely before March, as the project has to be done before he turns 18. … You create the project with the idea that when finished, it becomes the property of the person or entity it benefits, which is the city of Marseilles.

“It’s an interesting project, and I think it will be a nice addition to the area where the ball fields are. … With the playground equipment being moved there from Broadway Park, it will create a great play space for the kids in town.”