School Yard Games That Should Be Official Sports – Riggs’ Top Five

Not just any game of tag will work. It's gotta be freeze tag. One person is "It" and he has to touch the other players freezing them in place. To become unfrozen, one of the other 'non-it' players has to touch them. I've also played a variation where a teammate has to crawl underneath the persons legs. I can imagine this game being played on a large, circular playing field. No base, either.

A game that combines the lull of running on bases in baseball to the not-so-exciting kicking of a ball. For some reason, when you combine the two, it becomes a very fun game that anyone can play. Kick the ball - as hard as you can. Then, much like baseball, you run from base to base. Why is this not a professional sport, yet?

Hopscotch, itself, is a game of coordination and balance. It doesn't matter how big you are, how strong you are, just now well you can hop and hold your balance. You could even make this game extreme rules by having pitfalls, icy surfaces and hurdles in your path. Not just a simple 1-10 numbering system. They can have 1000 hopscotch tracks where you compete with other players at the same time. I never cared about the 'tossing the token and pick it up', just make it to the other side is good enough for me.

I was never good at tether ball, but was always fascinated by it. A mid-sized ball on a rope, tethered to the top of a poll. Player vs. Player have to hit the ball in their favor to wrap around the poll in a clockwise fashion. The winner is the one who gets it wrapped all the way around. You could get glove sponsorships and everything in this one.

Definitely my all time favorite playground game that isn't a professional sport, yet. One giant square divided into 4, a player in each square. You bounce the ball into the other players square - if they don't bounce it to another square after one bounce that player is out. One player is considered the captain and sets the rules of each game whether they allow you to slam the ball or allow you to hold the ball instead of immediately bouncing it off to someone else. In a professional manor, I'd love to see this game as a roulette-style rules that randomly present themselves at the start of each round. I'd be first to sign up.