The Game of Tee-Ball
All children love to play games, and ours are particularly fortunate to be growing up in a country where sporting achievement is publicly recognized and facilities are available for all to participate in an active way.
A difficulty which faces small children trying to emulate their sporting heroes, is that the skills required are too difficult. Many sports have recognised this and have solved the problem by creating a set of “modified” rules. No sport has achieved this better than Tee-Ball – a modified version of baseball. This fact is borne out by the explosive growth of the sport, which was introduced into the Woodlands area in this State in September 1974 with an initial competition of 8 teams totalling 96 boys. Now it is estimated that 10,000 boys and girls are playing Tee-Ball and the game has spread into 31 major centres in the metropolitan area and also into 30 country towns.
The major modifications include no pitching, hitting the ball off a “tee” of adjustable height, a time limit of one hour and playing on a diamond which is only two-thirds of the senior size. It also incorporates an important rule on the length of an innings to prevent a stronger team monopolising the batting during a game.
Tee-Ball caters for boys and girls from 4 to 12 years of age. The game provides a lot of fun, opportunity for rapid improvement in ball skills, hand-eye coordination and general confidence, as well as one hour of fast moving exciting involvement during the game itself. Parent and family participation as well as business sponsorship have reached unprecedented heights for children’s sport.
All activities are framed with the desire to achieve the philosophy of Tee-Ball.
The Tee-Ball philosophy is best remembered by the “Four F’s” of:
FUN
FAIR PLAY
FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT