Welcome
to Mission Ball, an exciting new interactive game that helps your team make
the world a better place. While
Mission Ball has rules and procedures, it's not nearly as complicated as football
or baseball.
We
want people to participate in Mission Ball to enjoy it and at the same time
develop themselves and help others.
Like any game, adaptations are made as the game is played, and each
league can make changes to make the game the best tool for them.
What is the object of the game?
The object of the game is to score points by performing positive actions on
your own or with other members of the team. These actions earn you points,
and the team with the most points wins the game.
How long
does a game last?
One week. A season consists of eight regular season games; four weeks of
playoffs and finally, the Mission Bowl.
What happens
during a game?
A
game begins with the start of action for the week and ends with the Scoring
Session that will look back over your week of action. Once the Scoring Session
is complete, a new game begins.
Member
Commitment
All
members of the League should commit to the thirteen week season.
This provides the stability, the team spirit and the commitment to
change that Mission Ball attempts to create.
New team members can be brought in to fill vacancies on
a team at any time throughout the course of the regular season. New members
can only begin play at the beginning of a week’s competition.
Getting
Started
Mission
Ball is a team-oriented activity. A league consists of four teams and a total
of 12-36 players (a minimum of three and a maximum of nine).
Once
a league is established, an orientation meeting is held where the
rules of competition are reviewed, clarified and finalized. Initial adaptations for the League can be made at this time,
but must be agreed to by the entire league.
The
league needs to decide the time and place of weekly meetings.
It facilitates the smooth operation of the league if these are
consistent throughout the season.
The
League needs to decide if Point Ceilings will be used. Point
ceilings limit the amount of points that can be gained in a week from any
single activity. This promotes a variety and balance action. (See Point
Ceilings)
Each
team has a color: red, white, blue or green.
Teams
then should come up with a team name and the team icon.
The team icon can be a flag, t-shirt, banner, something that clearly
identifies and personifies the team.
Next,
each team chooses their team captain. It is
suggested that this position be rotated throughout the team so that every team
member has leadership experience.
The
team then needs to select a team charity.
This charity would be the recipient of any money raised by the team in
fund- raising efforts. The
charity should be one that the team can get behind and support throughout the
season.
The
team should spend time in the initial meeting going over all the forms for the
game, but especially the Individual Week Score Sheet, The
Team Scoring Record, Buddy System
Basics, and Goal and Growth Groups.
Finally,
the team members should complete the planning boxes on the Individual Weekly
Score Sheet; and, make arrangements for any Buddy system support or team
action planned for the week.
Once
the teams are in place, we are ready to get the Mission Ball rolling.
How are points earned?
Points are earned by doing positive actions that are stretches from what you
are already doing. There are nine categories of action:
Actions
that are stretches toward your personal fulfillment and mission.
Actions
that empower others.
Actions
that increase your personal capacity and effectiveness. (for example, time
management, organizing your room or learning a skill)
Actions
that create a more world-sustaining lifestyle. (This includes
ecological action, community service, political and economic stretches.)
Balance
points—from doing a balance of actions in the above four areas, rather than
just focusing on one or two areas of action.
Donations
points—Making a stretch to either make a donation to or ask for a donation
for some charitable organization.
Team
Building points—From recruiting a new person into the game.
Team
Spirit points—From doing special actions that strengthen your team or
league.
Presentation
points—From making a winning presentation at the Scoring Session.
Weekly
Competition
Each
week ends in a one-hour Scoring Session in which the four teams meet together. In
any one week there are two pairs competing, for example, Red versus Blue, and
Green versus White. The scoring session is in four quarters. The first quarter
focuses on personal mission & fulfillment; the second, increasing personal
effectiveness; the third on protecting the world (by creating a world-sustaining
lifestyle), and the final quarter focuses on empowering others.
Most
of the points which have already been scored during the week are just added
up. However, there is also some live-action competition in which one or more
members from each team makes a two-minute presentation in each of the four
quarters. These presentations are brief educational or inspirational talks
relating to the quarter being played. The members of the two teams that aren't
not currently presenting judge between the presentations. (For instance, if
Blue were competing against Red, and White against Green, then members of the
White and Green teams would judge between the presentations of the Blue and
Red teams, and members of the Blue and Red teams would judge between the
presentations of the White and Green teams.)
The
weekly game starts with the team meetings, each in a corner of the room, for
about 45 minutes. The purpose of the team meeting is twofold: to give team
members ongoing personal support for their actions, and to prepare for the
Scoring Session which follows. During the first part of the team meeting, each
team member takes a turn to make four reports: something they learned (or
would like to learn), something they appreciated, something they made progress
on, and their plans for next week. This last report requires that each team
member already have a plan in mind for next week. Team members can use
the Goal & Growth Group Walk-Through
for this part of the meeting. During the second part of the meeting,
team members plan for the Scoring Session. They can use the Team
Meeting Agenda as a checklist.
Next comes the Scoring Session. The First Quarter begins by filling out the Team
Record sheet by adding up the points from all the team members in the
appropriate action area (personal mission, empowering others, etc.) in the
first table. Multiply it by the weight-average factor to get the
weight-averaged score. (This should have been done during the team meeting and
can be found in the bottom row of the first table.) Then record the score on
the Game Points table on the row marked “1st Q”, in the column
marked “week.” (Note: if you are not weigh-averaging the scores, use the
simpler Team Record Sheet.)
Repeat this process for each Quarter.
The
teams that are competing against each other sit opposite each other with the
presentation area in the center. The calculation to find out how much each of the
presentations are worth is now completed. To do this first add the score
from a) above to your opponent’s score for a) above, then multiply 0.125
time the total. Round to the nearest whole number. For instance, if your
team earned 250 total Personal Fulfillment points during the week, and the
other team earned 150 during the week. The total is 400.
One-eighth of 400 is 50, so that the points that will be awarded during that
quarter for the Personal Fulfillment presentation is 50. Both team presentations are
made prior to judging. The judging team members fill out the Game
Ballot for whatever quarter the other team is in. They are quickly
passed in and added up, and the results posted on the scoreboard for that
quarter. Game ballots are passed back at random to speed up the process.
Once the winner is decided the winner places the calculated number of points
in the first row, second column under “Present.”
Put the total adjusted “Team Building” score (which can be found in the
last row of the first table) in its box (row 1, column 3) of the Game Points
table, then add boxes 1,2 and 3 of the first row and put it in box 4 and 5.
Balance points, Donation points and Team Spirit points are added into their
appropriate quarter.
The
cumulative column is for your running total.
Once the first pair of teams has completed the process, the teams that have
been serving as judges, now become the active teams and the teams that have
just presented become the judges. The
process is run through again by the active teams and scoring is completed.
The
team from each pair with the greatest number of points, wins the week’s
competition.
A
brief Recognition Ceremony then follows. The Scoring Session and Recognition
Ceremony together are expected to take about an hour, a half an hour for each
game.
Following
the Recognition Ceremony is an optional community-building social event that
might take about an hour. Thus the whole program is expected to take from 2-2
½ hours. This social event is an
optional activity for individual team members, but should be seen as a regular
League activity. (For instance, it might be potluck dinner, but, a particular
team member might have a class project they need to work on and would not stay
for the pot luck dinner.)
How
do you know how many points an action is worth?
By
using the Scoring
Rules list. However, here are
some general rules of thumb and examples:
Each 10 minutes of action (that’s a stretch for
you) is worth one point.
A $1 donation to a charity that you don’t already
give to is worth a point.
One action toward a habit that you are learning, (for
instance, turning off
the lights when you leave a room) is worth ¼ point.
You receive points for recruiting new players into
the game: 21 points per
full week of
play. These points are awarded
the week after they play.
The
Scoring Rules also contains a list of special actions, for instance, planting
a tree could be worth five points, and writing a letter to Congress could be worth four
points. When an action does not fall under the rules, there is a special
process for determining the action’s point value.
How
will people know that a player really did his or her actions?
For
an action to count, you must write a brief description of it on your Individual
Week Score Sheet (or on an attached page.) Write the description next to
the points, for example, “jogging, 3 pts.” If you decide to do a private
action, such as break an embarrassing habit, then you write “personal
action” and you put the day and time, for example, “personal action,
Tuesday noon, 1 pt.” Undocumented points don’t count.
What
about Fundraising?
Set-up
some fundraisers for your chosen charity, such as selling safety-kits or smoke
detectors door-to-door or other creative ways of raising money.
(Something practical or healthy can get you extra points since it
would be empowering or environmental.)
What are Point Ceilings?
Point
Ceilings are game strategies that are designed to prevent one or two League
members from dominating the scoring process.
The
League should decide if it wants point ceilings, and set them. For example,
donation ceilings are the most points one player or team can make in a week by
making a donation or having a fund-raiser and also point ceilings in different
areas. Setting point ceilings in the four basic areas of action (personal
mission, empowering others, etc.) will encourage balance. Setting point
ceiling for individual players overall will prevent one player from
dominating, and will encourage team-building.
For
example, the following could be some ceilings:
The
donation ceiling per player per week is set at 50 points;
The
ceiling in the four basic action areas is set at 50 points in each area;
The
Team Spirit ceiling is set at 50 points; and
The
overall player ceiling is set at 300 points per week. (Totals over 300 still
count toward
“highest player of the week” and the Robo-Gandhi award.)
What
are Point-Making Styles or Strategies?
Point-making
styles?
There are at least four different styles of play. Each style has a different
impact on how you live your life. You can use any combination you wish, but
are encouraged to try all four:
A)
“Plan and Do” This is the simplest style. On your score sheet you list the
actions that you plan to do, and during the week you do them.
B) “Awake and Respond” In this style, you do stretches by being aware of
the people and situations around you, and you do actions that occur to you,
that you wouldn’t have done otherwise. For example: “I first keep
reminding myself to notice what’s going on. Then I happen to notice that
someone around me did something nice. I then compliment them when ordinarily I
wouldn’t have.” Another example: “I remind myself to notice what’s
going on and notice that my back and neck muscles are tight. I push myself to
do some stretching exercises or yoga.” The Awake and Respond style makes you
more aware and responsive to relationships to others and your current
situation.
C) “Want Management” In this style, you become aware of your desires and
others desires, and you get points for 1) putting off the desire if it is not
a healthy one, or 2) satisfying a desire in a more healthy way (less expensive
in time or money, to you or to the world.) For instance, if I get a craving
for a candy bar, but decide to stretch and eat a piece of fruit instead, I
would get a point.
D) “Path Management” In this style, you ask yourself periodically, “What
is the best, most loving use of my time right now?” Then you do the action
and get points if it is a stretch.
Note
that in these
last three styles, it’s important to note your points or actions right away,
so that you don’t forget.
What
are the Team Captain’s responsibilities?
The Team captain is responsible for all of the following, but s/he should delegate
some of jobs to other players:
a) Facilitate the Team Meeting, (keep people from talking too long, encourage
people to do their best, listen well.
b) Inspect the Individual Game Score Sheets to make sure that points are
well-documented.
c) Fill out the Prep Sheet
toward the end of the Team Meeting time, and turn it over to the emcee of the
week.
d) Finish filling out the top table on the Team
Record sheet for this week. (Or the weight-averaging Team
Record Sheet if there are not the full number of team members.)
f) Make sure that the Team Captain is in place for next week.
g) Makes sure someone brings the Team Record binder and a calculator next
week.
h)
Get copies of the League Record Sheets and register your team’s points on
the Sheet.
We
also ask that you share results
and feedback from your program with us at info@all-around.org.
Are
there rules for Team Presentations?
a)
A team is not required to make a presentation. Presentations cannot last
longer than 2 minutes (exactly). If they do, they are disqualified.
b) The vote should be cast for the best all-around presentation. Consideration
should be given to delivery, usefulness of content, and appropriateness of
content.
c) Point values for all presentations between the two teams that day are
one-eighth of the total points earned during the week in the first action area
(personal mission, empower others, etc.) selected.
d) All people on the voting teams must cast a vote. A draw is permitted in the
voting process.
e) All presentation points go to one or the other team, unless the votes are
exactly split. In this case, the points are split down the middle.
f) Presentations should not include any fancy or expensive props.
Can
I be in more than one League?
A
person can be only on one Mission Ball team at a time in the world. To help
start other leagues they can participate in other leagues as emcees or
helpers, but they cannot be active members.
What
is an emcee, and what are the emcee’s duties?
The
emcee serves as the Game Day facilitator.
The emcee is important to keep the game moving and that fair play is
adhered to during competition. The
emcee performs the following functions:
a) Blows the whistle or rings the bell to signal the preparation portion of
the Team Meeting. This takes place ten minutes before the start of the Scoring
Session and gives the team captains time to do needed record keeping.
b) Make sure that the Score Boards are ready to use and within view of the
particular teams that are competing,
c) Assign one or more helpers to:
1. Time-keep for presentations
2. Add scores to be put on the scoreboard and check
totals
3. Use the data from the Prep Sheets to fill out the
Recognition Sheet
d)
Make sure that you have a Prep Sheet from each team. (You’ll need them for
the Recognition Ceremony.)
e)
Blows the whistle or rings the bell signaling the start of the Scoring
Session. Has the teams move chairs to sit facing center with the competing
teams facing each other. Direct spectators to sit behind the team players.
f)
Welcome team members and spectators. (Stand in between two teams in the
circle.)
g)
Begin the first quarter: Gets
adjusted week score and Special Points score from first two teams and posts.
Emcees and introduces the Presentations.
h)
Computes Presentation point value (while teams are making presentation.)
i)
Signals the scoring two teams to vote and collects their cumulative votes.
j)
Completes and posts quarter scoring
k)
Repeats this process for the remaining three quarters.
l)
Posts the cumulative scores at end of game.
m)
Repeat the above steps for the other two teams.
n)
Begin the Recognition Ceremony by following the order on the Recognition
Sheet
and announcing and affirming the teams and players for their efforts.
What
is the Robo-Gandhi Award and how is it won?
The
award goes to the person who has earned the most points over the season.
It’s awarded at the Mission Bowl.
How
are changes made in the game?
Most team details can be changed simply by a vote of the team members. Most
things affecting the league (point ceilings, etc.) can be changed by a person
in the following manner:
1) Have a majority on your team agree that the change is a good one.
2)
Find at least one person from two of the other three teams who will agree to
the change.
3)
Create written ballots for the change and distribute to all teams
before the beginning of the Team meetings. Distribute only one ballot per
person attending. If over 60% of those attending agree to the change, have the
emcee announce it before the Recognition Ceremony.
We'd
like to know of any changes you make in the game.
Please write us at info@all-around.org.
This gives us
feedback and ideas to improve the gaming process. A governing board will make
rulings on permanent changes to the overall rules of Mission Ball.
What
can Mission Ball do for me?
You
can use Mission Ball to accomplish any of the following:
·
Get ongoing personal support for your goals and projects.
·
Make new friends.
·
Fully integrate new skills and habits into your lifestyle.
·
Have fun.
·
Increase your personal capacity and effectiveness.
·
Increase the capacity and effectiveness of a group you belong to.
·
Get support to explore for your source of greatest happiness (mission) and
live it fully.
·
Build self-control, discipline and self-esteem.
·
Create a more world-sustaining lifestyle.
·
Receive recognition and affirmation for your efforts.
·
Become comfortable and effective at making presentations (Optional)
·
Learn practical things from others (through the team meetings and
presentations.)
·
Support a charity with donations.
·
Take the program to an organization or group that you belong to, to empower them.
·
Build understand between diverse races, cultures, religions, age-groups, etc.
·
Build team work and community within an organization or group.
·
Try out new recipes (at a the potluck!)
·
Practice living in the moment.
·
Network.
·
Be exposed to different models and styles of positive action.
·
Nurture your spiritual growth.
·
Be encouraged to empower other individuals who are in your life.
·
Take the program to a group or population that you’d like to empower.
