KIN-BALL - a new sport for 3 teams and one BIG ball.

It's four-feet in diameter, but it weighs just a little more than 2 pounds. We used what we called an "earthball" as a center piece of our New Games Tournaments. It was six-feet in diameter and weighed more than 30 pounds. We liked to play volleyball with it, because just getting it over the net was a major accomplishment, requiring the cooperation of everyone in the team. With such a light and large ball as the KIN-BALL Sport Ball, whole new sports are made possible.

And, a whole new sport has in deed been developed. Created by Mario Demers in Canada, the KIN-BALL sport is one of the only sports I know of that requires three teams. As described on the official Kin-Ball sport website, "the official sport is played by three teams of four players. One team launches the ball, challenging the other team to get under the ball and gain control by balancing it between them." There are four players on each team, who play simultaneously. "The players of the defensive teams form a square around the ball. This same square constantly follows all the movements of the ball. Each player is responsible for a corner of the square and is situated about 10-12 feet from the ball. The four players have to maintain the team's square formation."

As the ball is served, everybody in the team must be in contact with the giant ball. This way, the whole team is involved. The serving team announces which team is to try to catch the ball - like a gentler version of the kids' game "Spud." If that team succeeds, they then have to return the serve before the 5 second time limit. If the receiving team misses or faults, both of the other two teams are awarded a point.

Though currently played in Canada, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and much of Europe, the sport's developers are making a concerted effort to spread the KIN-BALL gospel to the US, offering a free KIN-BALL sport ball to qualified schools.