# Is playing 'Catch' common in the parts of the world that love soccer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703 "2013-05-07T14:55:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/21 "2013-05-09T02:10:01Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’d consider _needing_ a glove to play catch to be a bit wussy. Baseballs aren’t that hard or small (compared to cricket balls, that is). You can certainly toss a baseball around without a glove but that doesn’t feel very satisfying. If you want to make some hard throws it isn’t very practical to catch the ball without a glove. Edit - and lightly tossing the ball around does feel kind of childish. > [@Nava](#): > > Which part? You quoted a paragraph containing half a dozen different ideas. > > I didn’t cite frisbees because I didn’t think it was part of the subject. You need to buy a Frisbee purposefully to “play Frisbee”, whereas small balls are pretty much all around any place or car that has children. The “game for small children” part. To me it sounds like the poster considers tossing a ball back and forth the equivilent of playing hide and seek, duck duck goose, or hop scotch. I usually have a frisbee and an (American) football in my trunk - the frisbee takes up practically no space. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/22 "2013-05-09T09:14:22Z")
To me, tossing a ball back and forth stops once the child can properly do that, at about 5 or 6. After that there is, as has been mentioned, piggy-in-the-middle, frisbee, tossing a rugby ball or cricket ball, kicking the ball around in a circle while tossing in some tricks or other forms of game play or practice of skills. Throwing a ball from one person to another (over the age of 5) with no other element of either game play or skill involved? No. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that growing up in the Netherlands and the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/23 "2013-05-09T10:35:34Z")
Here in Peru nobody does it. Passing a ball back and forth is something you may do 3 or 4 times, mostly as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/24 "2013-05-09T10:38:46Z")
Like I said, frisbee is considered a separate game here. It even needs a special tool, which catch doesn’t. You actually need to buy a frisbee in order to play frisbee, whereas balls or ball-equivalents can range from a kid’s stuffed toy (which can be used to play catch) to a crunched-up can (which cannot, but can be used to play kickabout). And like **gracer** , I’ve seen grown-ups outside of sports training or PhysEd play games which were variants of catch - but never > [@gracer](#): > > with no other element of either game play or skill involved and that includes in the US, but hey, maybe I was in a very strange part of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/25 "2013-05-10T00:02:22Z")
Well, 60 years in Philadelphia, “having a catch” was something we did all the time. Using a hardball and gloves to be sure. Yes, we could have a catch with a tennis ball, but it wasn’t much fun. It was throwing the ball hard that was satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/26 "2013-05-10T02:17:06Z")
I notice that dolphins play catch but not soccer. I don’t know what else to say about that, but they sound pro-American. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/27 "2013-05-10T02:26:57Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I notice that dolphins play catch but not soccer. I don’t know what else to say about that, but they sound pro-American. I haven’t noticed that they’ve caught many balls since the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/28 "2013-05-10T07:09:13Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > In my day, soft balls could be tossed around sans glove. And even though the word “catch” wouldn’t be appropriate, I think a couple of kids kicking a soccer ball back and forth to each other could be considered the equivalent. Call it “playing kick” maybe? “Having a kick about”, to be precise. Playing catch in the UK does happen, but it’s not a big deal. We do play rounders as little kids, which is like baseball, plus cricket, obvs. But having a kick about would be more common. It wouldn’t be just kicking a ball back and forth though. There would also be a fair bit of tackling and dabbling. If you went down my local park, you would see people kicking footballs, playing frisbee, playing cricket, or some kind of bat and ball game. Just throwing balls to each other would be less common. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/29 "2013-05-10T07:21:53Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > “Having a kick about”, to be precise. > > Playing catch in the UK does happen, but it’s not a big deal. We do play rounders as little kids, which is like baseball, plus cricket, obvs. But having a kick about would be more common. It wouldn’t be just kicking a ball back and forth though. There would also be a fair bit of tackling and dabbling. > > If you went down my local park, you would see people kicking footballs, playing frisbee, playing cricket, or some kind of bat and ball game. Just throwing balls to each other would be less common. [anecdote] A few years ago in Hyde Park, I saw two Americans playing catch. There was this pimply lout shouting at them, saying that they were a bunch of wusses for using gloves. Eventually one of the Yanks got tired and basically challenged the guy to catch, which he did, cricket style, to great cheers. [\anecdote]. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/30 "2013-05-10T13:58:51Z")
I’ve never been much into sports but throwing a ball back and forth is something I enjoy. I live in Thailand now, where soccer is king. [Sepak takraw](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepak_takraw) is also very popular – like volleyball but played with feet instead of hands! Other popular games include volleyball, badminton, and pétanque, but I don’t recall any sport or pastime here that involves throw-and-catch except basketball. ☹ I do play catch with my young son frequently. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/31 "2013-05-10T17:51:02Z")
So is it only Americans who attach an almost mythic importance on fathers playing catch with their sons? ---
**Author:** ![Archaic\_Entity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@Archaic\_Entity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archaic_Entity)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/32 "2013-05-10T18:06:30Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > Throwing a ball from one person to another (over the age of 5) with no other element of either game play or skill involved? No. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that growing up in the Netherlands and the UK. There can be more to it. Usually, if I play catch, we’re going a pretty decent distance and practicing fielding grounders and pop-flies as well as just throwing the ball back and forth or throwing so that you have to chase it down or make reaching catches. So there are other skills, potentially, involved beyond just sticking a glove out. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/33 "2013-05-10T19:55:45Z")
I’m not sure if I understood the OP but here it is… When I was growing up – all through elementary & high school – we would play soccer games 3-4-5 times a day each game lasting an hour or so. When there are not enough of us for a full game, we’d play “catch” equivalents; e.g. “nabacivanye” or corner kick with a goalie where one guy would be a goalie, another would be at the corner flag kicking the ball in the area around the goal and then everyone else would try to hit a header or bicycle-kick into the goal. Another one is “varka” or having 2 or more guys passing the ball to each other while a third is in the middle trying to intercept the ball. Once you intercept the ball, the guy whose ball kick got intercepted goes in the middle and you go on the outside to pass the ball. There are variations of this that require additional soccer skills; for example, you can only pass the ball in one kick, i.e. you’re not allowed to hold on to the ball and work it but rather you are expected to measure the speed of the ball passed to you and middle guy location as you have only one chance to pass the ball back without being intercepted (effective only when there’s more than one guy you can pass the ball to). The most sophisticated form of this is to add a condition that ball should not fall on the ground at all but you can kick it once with your head and once with either leg. Also, to pass the time and if it’s only two of us, we would play “kick the goal posts” from outside of penalty space; side post was worth 1 point and horizontal post kick would be worth 3 points. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703/34 "2013-05-11T00:22:29Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Well, 60 years in Philadelphia, “having a catch” was something we did all the time. Using a hardball and gloves to be sure. Yes, we could have a catch with a tennis ball, but it wasn’t much fun. It was throwing the ball hard that was satisfying. I agree that being able to put a little muscle into the throw is very satisfying. With a football you get to put some muscle into the throw plus the added finesse and skill necessary to get the ball to fly in a tight spiral (IE - not wobble). Tossing a Frisbee is more satisfying from a finesse standpoint (to me anyway). A softball is OK to toss but much less satisfying. I can easily understand in a culture where balls suitable for throwing are uncommon that playing catch would also be uncommon. But the contempt some seem to feel for the game of catch is puzzling. Made even more so by the fact that some of the same people think that playing catch with a Frisbee is fine, but playing catch with a ball is childish and silly 😕 For those not in an area where playing catch is common it is an activity usually done when you feel like being outside and moving around a bit, but don’t really want to work to hard, like a cookout or some other sort of outing. It would be similar to going for a walk or hike, throwing a Frisbee :rolleyes: , tossing horseshoes, or playing bocce. Of course you could always increase the intensity by simulating football plays (catching on the run and/or having another person try to prevent a pass from being caught) or in the case of baseball by simulating a batted ball that would be hard to catch (Like a grounder bouncing unpredictably). Or even just make long and hard throws. It also has the added benifit of practicing a skill that is necessary for the games of football and baseball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-playing-catch-common-in-the-parts-of-the-world-that-love-soccer/657703.md?page=1)