Quick Way To Do 10,000 Steps.

It is spring again and time for the elementary basket ball tournament has begun.  I think every kid between third and sixth grade played as long as they were eligible.  The third and fourth graders have parents laughing while calling out things like "foul!" or "out of bounds!".  The fifth and sixth are a bit better in that regard but they still have their issues.

Every year, I volunteer my time to ref all games they play including the finals.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I've been spending two or so hours each day running up and down the while trying to watch the action.

The refs have to spend more time paying attention to the younger ones because they literally try to tackle each other, push, shove, grab the ball and run with it and never bounce the ball.  I feel like I spend more time trying to keep my eyes on them while chasing them across the half court so no one gets hurt.

In the first game, it took till the fourth quarter before either side managed to score.  Back and forth, back and forth, watching for kids shoving others while the other tried to shoot.  We had to stop play a few times because someone had to retie their shoe in the middle of play so no one would get hurt. I am positive we could have made a call every minute on some sort of foul but we just grabbed what we could see clearly, made sure no one was hurt and they didn't hurt each other.

Although each quarter for this group is four minutes long, they stop play every two minutes to switch out players.  Each team has between 8 and 15 players depending.  The idea is to give everyone a chance to play so they can all develop.  After 16 minutes of play, I know I was on my way to a great workout.   There are four teams so I ran for two games or around 35 to 40  minutes of play.

Add to this the older students in grades five and six and I get a lot more exercise.  Although the older students are not quite as rough as the younger ones, they can be just as agressive and we have to watch for pushing and shoving.  The nice thing is they don't fall on the ball the ways the younger ones do.

The quarters for the older students are six minutes long with breaks every three minutes or 24 playing minutes so double that and I spend another 55 or 60 minutes moving.  So probably a good 100 minutes minimum although it usually takes two full hours from start to finish. This group plays the full court and I usually cover the side closest to the crowd and one end.

I need to wear a pedometer sometime and actually count steps but it feels like I'm going that many over all four games.  Up and down, up and down,  enough to feel as if I've gotten a good workout by the end.  This does not prevent me from doing a 15 to 20 minutes high intensity workout because in my mind, working four games is not exercise even though I am sometimes a bit breathless.

I love it, and I'm sure I get a good workout doing it.  It feels as if I am working out because I seldom stay still and am usually moving.  I've decided this is a quick easy way to do 10,000 steps in a day.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.