Mission Ball

Think of all the energy that goes into professional and amateur sports in the United States.  Now imagine channeling some of this energy into doing good. What if it were done through a game in which teams competed by doing positive actions that helped others or improved themselves?

We call this game Mission Ball.

Mission Ball combines the excitement and fun of team competition with a personal growth program that you tailor to your needs, and with making an impact on the community through volunteer action and donations.

In Mission Ball, players score points by performing good deeds and positive actions that are a stretch for themselves.  The scoring standard is one point per ten minutes of action, or per charity dollar generated for their team’s chosen charity.  There’s also a list of special ways to generate points—e.g., donating blood, planting a tree, or volunteering an hour for a nonprofit organization.  When something isn’t listed, a point rating can be generated by the referees.  A large number of points are awarded for recruiting another person into the Mission Ball game.  If the teams in the league have enough members, they join a new league that’s forming.  New players can begin immediately, with rules that weight-average scores for teams with fewer players.  People in other geographic areas can play by phone, or join Internet leagues, or by starting leagues in their area.

If Mission Ball were just a single week-long game, it would result in a burst of activity and little more.  Over a two or three month season, however, several factors deepen the experience.  A good player must develop stamina.  Players are exposed to each others’ concepts of what positive action is, enriching and challenging one’s own practical understanding of what would be the best use of one’s time and resources.  Through the members of their league, they have the support to learn skills and make major changes in their lifestyles.  On the team level, strategies develop as teams compete to win one week without exhausting themselves for the next week’s game.

Four teams of about seven members each compete and form one league.  They’re designated by the color of their team icon, (a T-shirt, flag or banner) in one of the four league colors—red, white, blue and green, symbolizing fire, air, water and earth, respectively.  Each season is usually thirteen weeks long.  (This can be adapted according to a group's needs.)  Each game is one week long.  There are eight regular season games, four playoffs, and one “Mission Bowl,” our Super Bowl event.  

Each week ends in a scoring session in which the four teams meet together.  In any one week there are two pairs competing, for instance, Red versus Blue, and Green versus White.  The scoring session is in four quarters: personal mission and fulfillment, increasing personal capacity, empowering others, and creating a world-sustaining lifestyle.  Most of the points that have already been scored during the week are just added up.  But there’s also some “live-action” competition.  A member of each team, for instance, might describe a fellow team member’s action that represented a significant breakthrough.  The members of the two teams that aren’t competing with them that week judge among the presentations.  Similar to Olympic gymnastic judging, they award points based on both delivery and the difficulty of the action.  As an alternative, teams can present a brief educational presentation relating to mission, capacity, improving the world or empowering others.  These live-action points amount to one-eighth of of the total points generated during the week.

The league may want to play the National Anthem prior to the competition, especially if there is a group of spectators, and especially at the Mission Bowl.  

After the scoring session there’s an acknowledgment ceremony for the winning teams and the best individual players, as well as a celebration of the impact all the actions and donations combined.  This is followed by a meal or social time.  A strategy and support meeting for each team happens either before the scoring session or at another time during the week. 

The time involved is only two-and-a-half hours a week—approximately forty-five minutes for the preparatory team meeting, sixty minutes for the scoring session, fifteen minutes for the acknowledgment ceremony, and thirty minutes for the social gathering of teams.  For this small investment of time players receive:

Ongoing personal support and written materials that help them focus on personal mission goals and the removal of bottlenecks to becoming more effective.

The satisfaction of doing their best to help others through their actions.

A competitive, fun and challenging event.

A creative and positive use of their time.

A social time where they can make new friends.

Players need only a scoring booklet to play, although a T-shirt in the team's color adds to the team spirit.  Potential new team members are welcome to observe the game.  If  they decide they would like to play, they make a commitment to play for the remainder of the season.

Imagine how much good would be accomplished if as many people in your city who played football, baseball, basketball, softball or soccer played Mission Ball!  The essence of the game isn’t just to rack up points, but to do your personal best.  For instance, in the area of empowering others, the question is, “What is the best, most loving way for me to help others?”  In the area of personal mission and fulfillment, the question becomes, “What’s the best, most loving use of my time for me?”  So the center of the game becomes not just good action, but love.

By beginning with some enthusiastic players, you will naturally excite and attract others.  The use of pre-existing competitive structures such as high schools, colleges, fraternities and sororities, classes, etc., can create higher stakes.

Since inviting people to join a league is part of the game, Mission Ball is expected to grow rapidly.  Businesses can become team sponsors through the donations they make to charity.  They can also form leagues themselves.  Ideally, the game will spark an infectious optimism, a “goodness-mania” for changing one’s life and the world.  And, if you’re wondering, “Where’s the ball?” the answer is, “You’re standing on it.”

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