Teen Council was able to host their first event in six months on Saturday, September 19.  It was the perfect activity for our socially-distanced world – Knockerball!  Knockerballs are inflatable plastic balls that you wear over your shoulders.  The only thing that is exposed is your legs, so that you can safely knock over your friends. 

The activity was run by Knockerball Michigan, who are headquartered in Livonia, Michigan.  They have a facility where you can go and play Knockerball, but they also come to your site to coordinate games and run the whole event.  We were able to invite them out to the Auburn Hills Community Center to run this event.

• 

• 

It took place in the field behind the Community Center because it was a beautiful 60 degree sunny day.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather with how unpredictable September is weather-wise.  The Knockerballs get warm, so the cooler weather was beneficial for the participants.

We rented out 8 Knockerballs that were completely sanitized and everybody was assigned their own Knockerball to use.  If a participant wanted to switch out with somebody else, the Knockerball would be pulled out and completely sanitized before somebody else could use it.  Luckily, we had 8 participants total, so everyone was able to keep their own Knockerball.

The participants played a wide variety of games from team battles, partner battles, and even a competition on who could do the most flips in their Knockerball.

The participants had a great time and we hope to make this event a regular occurrence for the future. Knockerball Michigan did a great job facilitating everything and were very flexible and willing to follow any guidelines related to COVID-19.

Teen Council is open to teens ages 13 – 18.  If teens are interested in joining the Auburn Hills Teen Council please contact Justin Lambregtse at jlambregtse@auburnhills.org.  Teen Council engages in monthly meetings and activities at the Auburn Hills Community Center, as well as state-wide activities with other Teen Council groups from across the state.  It provides valuable leadership experience and is a great place to meet new friends!

Justin Lambregtse, Youth Coordinator, Parks and Recreation Department