We played it with thrown balls, and the target had to stand there until someone missed. But every time someone hit the person the throwing distance was increased by a step.
I totally agree about it being practice for handling pain and finding out what the limits are in a safe manner. You’ll see baby animals doing the same thing as they play, slowly ramping up the level of roughness until somebody squawks.
Unfortunately, it’s also a way to reinforce an in-group if you can get some out-group players involved. I only played it once since it didn’t take me long to notice that, somehow, I was the only one who ever got actually hit with the ball whenever I was involved.
We played it with thrown balls, and the target had to stand there until someone missed. But every time someone hit the person the throwing distance was increased by a step.
I totally agree about it being practice for handling pain and finding out what the limits are in a safe manner. You’ll see baby animals doing the same thing as they play, slowly ramping up the level of roughness until somebody squawks.
Unfortunately, it’s also a way to reinforce an in-group if you can get some out-group players involved. I only played it once since it didn’t take me long to notice that, somehow, I was the only one who ever got actually hit with the ball whenever I was involved.