Kids Playing In The Street

The lack of grass and direct sun does nothing to sour the sporting fun for these spectacular little players. They pray upon every inch of the street, utilizing manhole covers and cans when balls or proper bases cannot be found. The ingenuity and imagination occurring on city streets every day is a testament to the true power of the child. A street game is a sport or game that is played on city streets rather than a prepared field. Street games are usually simply play time activities of children in the most convenient venue. However some street games have risen to the level of organized tournaments, such as stickball. When street games are based on organized sports the rules are usually highly modified to fit the situation, i.e. manhole covers for bases with cars or buildings for foul lines in stickball. When balls are called for in street games, spaldeens are often used. A Spalding Hi-Bounce Ball, often called a Spaldeen, is a small pink rubber ball, somewhat similar to a racquetball, supposedly made from the defective core of a tennis ball without the felt. The term Spaldeen most likely arose from a New York City-accented pronunciation of Spalding, the sporting goods company that produced the balls. Across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey, the ball was referred to as a "high bouncer." It may also have originated with a mis-reading of A. G. Spalding's signature on the ball. The name has become so common that Spalding now uses it in marketing, and it is now a registered trademark. This sound uses the following file from Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=120901