Laurel students introduced to new educational game

By by Ayesha Ahmad THE GAZETTE

IA new non-contact, co-educational sport that Laurel High School students are learning this year has been a surprising success for the game’s Greenbelt inventor, Sebastian Bruce.
Laurel is one of five Prince George’s County schools that are trying out the game, called Tsegball (pronounced seg-ball), but over 300 county school systems in 26 states nationwide started using the game in their gyms this year.

‘‘It’s creative, it’s fun,” said Laurel senior Felicia Kelly, 16. ‘‘It’s a team sport.”

The county school system has not yet approved the game for full use in all its schools, but is testing the game at Largo and Gwynn Park high schools, and Kingsford and Fairmount Heights elementary schools. It will have to be approved by the Board of Education before it can be formally introduced into the curriculum, said county schools spokesman John White.

Tsegball is designed to be the kind of sport that anyone can play, with a focus on strategy rather than strength or agility. Two teams attempt to throw a soft, volleyball-sized ball into each other’s baskets – one on each of the court’s four corners. But while passing to each other, they cannot hold the ball for more than 3 seconds, jump to intercept or throw it, or travel more than one step with it.

‘‘Without the ability to jump, they have to think, ‘How can I catch this ball?’” said Laurel track and field coach Corey Harris. ‘‘When they look at it at first, they’re not sure what to make of it. Now they’re starting to argue over it. It’s truly a strategy game, teaching them how to think.”

The game also prohibits body contact, and is meant for boys and girls to play together.

That was part of the inspiration for Bruce, 30, a native of Togo who grew up in Sweden. As the youngest of 36 siblings in his large family – most of whom were women – he said he knew from the start that stereotypes about girls not being strong enough to compete with boys were not true.

‘‘The boys don’t want to play with girls because they think the girls are lazy, [and] the girls think the boys are too aggressive. ... I wanted to prove that that’s wrong,” he said.

In 1994, while still living in Sweden, he took that as a challenge to create a new game, combining elements of handball, volleyball, hopscotch, rugby and basketball. But he did not try it out until he came to the United States in 2000. It took over two years for his work to bear fruit, but at a convention in April of the American Alliance for Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, people began to take notice.

Now, ‘‘everybody wants to have Tsegball,” he said. ‘‘Right now, we’re out of stock.”

The name of the game comes from his parents’ middle name, Tseg, which means ‘‘fun” in the Ewe language, he said.

It’s a fitting name, according to the students who play the game in physical education classes at Laurel.

‘‘It’s fun,” said senior Djuan Tucker, 17. ‘‘I like it. It gives you a workout.”

His teachers also approve, both because of the ease of teaching and using it in school and because of its unique approach to physical education.

‘‘It’s a low budget, quick, fast game and the kids all like it. You can move a lot of kids through this quickly,” said physical education teacher Lynne Ball. ‘‘Even those that you would not think of as highly athletic can play this game, so you have a lot of skill levels.”