Grants in Action: 9 Square In The Air Bridges Grades Through Play

What gets a 6th grader and a senior playing the same game? At Kingston Middle School, the answer turned out to be 9 Square.

The KMS PE department added Castle Squares 9 Square kits to its physical education program with support from NKSF. The game is fast, low-impact, and easy to join, which makes it a good fit for the large classes PE teachers work with every day.

For teacher Cheryl Foreman, the grant did something that a tight budget usually makes hard. It lets the program stay current. New equipment isn’t easy to come by when funds are limited, and this gave students something fresh to look forward to.

What stood out most was who started playing together. 9 Square brought students of different grade levels together, kids who might not choose to play together otherwise. Because the game is low-impact, staff can jump in and play alongside the students, too, rather than just supervise from the sidelines.

The reach extended beyond Cheryl’s own classes, too. During a recent teacher exchange at the high school, she brought a 9 Square kit to introduce it to the 9th through 12th-grade PE classes. She spent five periods playing with former students, some of whom she hadn’t seen in three or more years. They enjoyed it as much as her younger students did, and they asked if they could borrow the kit.

Her 6th graders feel the same way. As one of them put it: 

“I like that 9 Square is now part of the PE program. I used to play with my friends and liked it. I like 9 Square because it involves more people, most of the time you can choose singles or doubles, and there is no specific formation required.”

That about sums it up. It works for a big group, gives students choices, and students ask to play it regularly.

Around 400 students take part across grades 6 through 12, and Cheryl hopes the kits hold up for five or more school years. The KMS PE department shared pictures and a thank-you to the North Kitsap Schools Foundation on its Facebook page, so families could see where the support went.

A new game doesn’t sound like much. But this one got more students moving, playing, and choosing to be part of something together.

This is Grants in Action: bringing students of every grade together through the simple joy of play.