Ball Hawks

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Canada
Guelph, ON
Ball Hawks

Recreational sports program offering innovative play opportunities for kids. Baseball. Wiffle Ball.

04/10/2025

When I was a kid, I loved to play.

I was always inventing backyard games, turning every patch of grass into an arena. But I also put way too much pressure on myself. I got too competitive. I tied my confidence to how I performed. And when I didn’t “win,” it felt like I lost more than just the game.

⭐ I built Ball Hawks for that kid— and for all kids who need something different.

A place where there’s no one sport, no uniforms, no tryouts, and no “stars.”

Where games like Fireball, Playmaker, Guardian, and Rush replace drills.

Where we teach teamwork, creativity, and resilience through play.

⭐ At Ball Hawks, kids help shape the games. We rotate teams every week.

Everyone wins.
Everyone loses.
Everyone grows.

We focus on long-term development, not short-term trophies.

We treat kids like kids — emotional, silly, creative, learning — not mini adults.

I’m Brodie Richards, founder of Ball Hawks here in Guelph

This is the sports program I wish I had growing up.

And I’m so proud to share it with families who believe that fun, freedom, and just playing should still be at the heart of youth sports.

Let’s change the game.
Together. 🏃‍♂️🔥

08/08/2023

It was the Vipers who owned the Fortress of Foxwood in the July Ball Hawks camp.

Their defenses held against every Wolves attack, scoring a perfect victory over successive days of Hula Hut Throwdown: Invasion and Capture the Flag.

They also learned to use the ridge as a decoy, often sending some offense along the ridge, while strategically sending a sneak attack through the Hideout on the other side.

What will happen next week when the Ravens compete against the Hornets?

Will Foxwood once again prove to be the impregnable fortress?

05/26/2023

What an incredible night for Capture the Flag! The kids were excited. The weather was amazing. The action and competition was fierce.

Legendary Guardian defense from one team, and some nifty Ninja work as well as Wolfpack Village Hearth won 2-0.

We don't do trophies or medals. No tournaments or championship. That stuff isn't actually healthy competition for most kids.

We do competition in a different way. We do intensity but no status. We do bragging rights. We do little victories.

And the win we want for them is the character and coordination they built.

Which is why we do sport badges. A different approach to gamify training and teach them the sport skills, emotional skills and social skills we all want them to learn from sport.

05/03/2023

The reviews are in. Parent/Child Sandlot was fire! 🔥

And of course I got no pictures. 🤷🤦
But it was a blast. (Trust me!?)

For the first time ever we ended our Spring Wiffle Ball season by giving parents the chance to play with their kids.

Parents got to experience the Sandlot method first hand.

💥 Bucket Ball warmup

💥 Make teams at field. Then change teams midway through after score got out of hand.

💥 Sudden, random rule changes

💥 Some questionable umpiring. Even more questionable video review from Lou!

💥 Last minute heroics to preserve a close lead.

We had it all. The emotions. The drama. Home runs. And home runs robbed.

That wraps our Wiffle Ball season. We will be back in October!

11/10/2022

💥 MICRO-COMPETITIONS 💥

What do kids need to develop their competitive literacy?

🔥 They need to experience the HIGHEST possible level of competition WITH the LOWEST level of consequence.

We tend to create leagues that only offer them high competition with high consequences.

(NO MATTER how much we say it's just for FUN they know there is a championship, a playoffs, a league standings and they see/feel that stress).

This is where we introduce them to micro-competitions.

Tonight's PLAYLIST had 5 different chances to win (and lose). The consequences lasted a few minutes, and then the next game was already up and going.

Small victories. Small losses.

Still emotions. Still frustrations to sort out.

We had an epic comeback in BANK SHOT and some tears after round one of DODGEBALL:WAR but each athlete had a variety of opportunities to experience highs and lows.

And the narrative at the end of the session?

The big takeaway wasn't about one big victory (or one big loss). Everything just blended together and most of all they talked about being really HOT from all the work.

10/18/2022

Sometimes a game just needs to break for laughter. Both teams were keeled over.

09/23/2022

Why Wiffle Ball?

Because it's FUN!

Now that would be reason enough, but let's delve a little deeper.

Because there is a deeper benefit here.

Wiffle Ball is an example of what we call "sport-adaptive" training.

It looks like baseball. It even feels like baseball. It kinda of is baseball and YET it is not baseball.

There is a marked and structured variation that is fundamental to why we play Wiffle.

💥 The ball is different. Lighter. More movement.

💥 The bat is different. Longer. Lighter.

💥 The field is different. Smaller. There are less fielders. Shorter home run fence.

💥 Fielders don't use gloves.

Each of these variations has a purpose and each creates adaptive opportunities for the players.

This is what we mean by "sport-adaptive" and it's a key way to move away from a constant focus on 'sport-specific" training.

This is year four of Wiffle Ball program with .

GMBA should get a ton of credit here.

Not many youth leagues offer this kind of programming and most youth sports spend all their time constantly offering sport specific programs - a non stop deluge of games, practices and clinics that offer very little variation and no innovation.

This is how we change the game and help change the development of kids. A better way forward. More variation. More science. More innovation.

Registration is open. And it sells out FAST. Get your spot asap!!

09/20/2022

The second BIG BENEFIT of our Ball Hawk program is COORDINATION. Every game we play is designed to develop every athlete's coordinative abilities.

✅Balance
✅Adaptability
✅Movement Coupling
✅Kinetic Differentiation
✅Spatial Orientation
✅Reaction
✅Rhythmic Ability

Each of these coordinative abilities can be (must be) developed, trained and improved through the right kind of guided play.

Before any kid can master the swing, the pitch, the shot or any other "mechanics" of their target sport - they need to have a solid foundation in coordination.

Even more important. Movement science has identitified that these coordinative abilities have "sensitive periods" - critical periods in motor development of children.

08/31/2022

Our PLAYLIST for the Wednesday night drop-in IGNITE session.

Tonight's group of 5/6 year olds are getting three new games they haven't seen before from us as we mix up the playbook for them.

Tonight's goal is to add more throwing than typically we have done with this group as we gear up for indoor season and more importantly - DODGEBALL season!!

All summer we have focussed on small group Skirmishs. Parents can pick their own schedule, everything is drop-in and pay as you play.

Skirmish schedule will continue all September until the weather moves us inside.

💥 Small groups
💥 Lots of action
💥 Building fundamental coordinative abilities.
💥 Fun. Fun Fun

And exhausting...

07/12/2022

We let kids create the strategies, the rules, and even the games. We let kids search for their own moves and solutions.

They are free to move, plan, adapt, decide and risk.

We don't teach them creativity - we let their creativity happen as they search, explore, and dialogue with our game designs.

Ball Hawks is how kids get built by play.

06/26/2022

💥 DODGEBALL: WAR 💥

A weekly event at our indoor gym sessions for ages 10 to 12.

We have brought it outside for the final week of our Sunday night season for the Ball Hawk group.

A kid favourite for sure. 🔥

06/09/2022

The Thursday Plan. Not that it always goes to plan. Kids will miss and numbers will change. Their mood will mean they like some activities more than others and we adjust.

Maybe tonight they are especially silly and need to run that energy off with fewer transitions and less team cooperation.

Each week is a different plan. The categories don't stay the same. We customize the day to each group and each week.

This particular IGNITE group has shrunk and is smaller in numbers because we moved a few to partner with the J-HAWKS based on age and skill and temperament.

We are never really sure what they will be excited to do. Some weeks they Bucket Ball really well. Other weeks not so much.

So we build a plan for them that allows our team of instructors to change on the fly. They may move to a new game quickly or circle back to another game.

We cannot be sure the younger kids will want to try Mystery Tag with the older kids and so maybe they want to play their own version later. 🤷

We are teaching them adaptability and giving them freedom. We have to be just as adaptive and free up the routine.

As long as it works. As long as they move. And play. And make decisions and compete.

Address

Guelph, ON

Telephone

+15199942689

Website

http://www.playsandlot.com/

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