Ten-year-old pitches gaga ball for city parks

A 10-year-old Brandon boy has pitched his plan to bring a new sport to Brandon parks, something city councillors have said can be explored during budget deliberations this winter.

Frasier McArthur, who attends École New Era School, presented a proposal to council at its Tuesday meeting to install one or more gaga ball pits in the city. The first pick for a location was Stanley Park on Princess Street.

“It is a fun game, and it always keeps me entertained,” McArthur said about gaga ball, a children’s game of Israeli origin.

Gaga ball is played in a small octagonal pit with a ball. Players hit the ball with their hands while it’s bouncing on the ground, aiming at other players’ feet or legs to get them out.

Courts can vary in size but aren’t typically bigger than 20 feet in diameter.

McArthur said he learned the game while at a camp, and decided to present it to the city because “people like a good game.” He also asked for the pit to be named after himself.

A secondary location for the pit was Rideau Park.

Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) said bringing the idea to the Brandon School Division would be a good idea.

McArthur said setting up pits in front of New Era, along with every other BSD school, would be his choice.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the city will explore the idea of installing a pit before budget deliberations start in January.

Fawcett also told McArthur that he will be in talks with BSD. He said it makes sense for schools to have the pits because they already have balls available.

“We do love these kinds of games that people can play where there is not many barriers,” Fawcett said. “They don’t need a lot of equipment, they don’t need to have too much — but a ball and a pit.

“It is something we’ll take a good look at.”

After the meeting, Fawcett said sports like gaga ball or pickleball make sense because the number of people that can play at a time, compared to the space the game takes up, is a good ratio.

McArthur said as many as 15 players can play at any time.

Fawcett added that installing a pit likely wouldn’t be too costly. Each pit also comes with a short fence surrounding it.

“It doesn’t look like it has major costs attached to it,” Fawcett said. “I don’t think gaga ball may take off quite like pickleball did, but we’ll definitely look at it and we’ll find out some kind of cost.”

On Friday, the Sun asked people at Stanley Park if they would be in favour of having a gaga ball pit added to the park. All six people who were asked during the lunch hour said they were in favour of the addition, as long as it’s in a place that wouldn’t take away from other equipment or courts, or where kids play soccer.

“That’s a good thing, because the world we live in, kids don’t get too much pleasure anymore,” said 74-year-old Robert Toews as he was out for a walk. “This is a children’s park, and on a good day the place is just filled with children.”

Toews, who lives across the street from the park, said as long as the pit isn’t placed in the middle of an open space, he’s good with it.

“Just as long as it doesn’t take the free area away too much, because kids like to play soccer and that,” he said. “If that gets in the way, it’s reducing (play). Kids have got to enjoy their youth.”

Another man, who asked not to be named because his son works for the city and there could be a conflict of interest, worried that the pit wouldn’t be used, as gaga ball is not a popular game.

But promoting kids staying active is a good thing, he said, as long as it doesn’t impact the existing courts.

» alambert@brandonsun.com