Elementary students go ‘gaga’ for new ball game

RANDOLPH – Randolph Elementary students are enjoying a whole new ball game at the school playground this year.

A new addition - a gaga ball pit - was added as an effort from the school’s wellness committee who received a $500 grant from the Norfolk Area Planned Approach to Health (PATCH).

“I thought it would be a great, engaging game to get students moving which is something that the wellness committee was looking for with this grant,” said Elementary Principal Denton Beacom.

PATCH funding amounted to about half of the cost to set up the round enclosure made from hard plastic.

The game is similar to dodgeball in which players roll the ball at each other with their hands and are eliminated if the ball strikes them. Players run, jump and dodge and the last person standing wins.

“The kids have loved it and it has been a very popular game so far at recess,” Beacom said. “We are seeing whole classes go and play together.”

PATCH is a planning model developed in the mid-1980s by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with state and local health departments and community groups.

PATCH started in Norfolk in 1991 and is used by communities to plan, conduct and evaluate health promotion and disease prevention programs, among other activities.

Along with health and wellness grants, PATCH also sponsors the annual health fair in Norfolk.

Students will also be safer while at play with the addition of new fencing this summer, separating the playground from the adjacent parking lot, Beacom said.

He said no other improvements are planned at this time but he would like to resurface the playground in the future and will look into grant funding.