4 Square videos on the internet

At this point, if you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably already seen the videos of 4SEB playing the game we all love and explaining what the magical phenomenon that is the Rockridge BART station parking lot and … what’s that? You haven’t seen the videos? Okay, take a few minutes and educate yourself …

Caught up now? Good. The way the 4SEB plays is rooted in the basic concept of “If the ball bounces in your square, put it in another player’s square.” As simple as this may seem, there are multiple interpretations what this actually looks like in the Square, what is acceptable and what is impermissible. Different regions develop different attitudes, rules, moves and cultures surrounding the game. Even the square itself changes, from our 20 by 20 footer to courts that are only 3 feet by 3 feet. With all this variation, questions come up. Which style is right? Who holds authority? What are the squares actually supposed to be called? What’s up with your rules? And who are the hardest ballers? Wanting answers, we did what anyone with questions does: we asked the internet. So after months of combing youtube, 4 Square of the East Bay has complied some of the best clips for you to view and consider. We now present: 4 Square Videos on the Internet…

While not really originating from the internet, it certainly has been watched by many on the web. Let’s start it off with the artful, yet oh-so-real drama of the playground “Heroes of the Game: Four Square” from Nickelodeon’s Games and Sports!

4SEB and this next group share the same lineage but have developed different styles of play. Here is NYC with some of our square-like cousins…

Now, as a counter point to New York, the Boston organization Square Four (who are a major part of the Four Square World Championships) shows off their game…

Speaking of World Championships…

Back in 2008, one winner of the World Championships was from our northern neighbor proving that Canadians have major game. Check out Memorial University Square Ball from Newfoundland.

4 Square seems to be making a comeback among colleges not only in Canada but also in sunny Florida. Here’s a new twist on the Florida State University Vs. University of Florida rivalry, Box Ball style.

Then there are these two awesome videos from somewhere in the world. We can’t figure out where, but they’ve got killer moves and some even have matching t-shirts. Hot.

Unfortunately, there are two sides to every story and 4 Square internet videos are no different. As much as youtube has helped us display our athletic prowess it also offers up the casual surfer more crappy videos than good. Some are so bad people feel they need to post that 4 Square sucks and it’s lame, that it’s not a sport and that they can beat you while drunk and talking on a cell phone. This can scare away new players who choose to believe stereotypes saying the square is full of sad dorks, misfits with Peter Pan syndrome, and … well, squares. It’s videos like this next one that perpetuate those negative ideas and give the real players a bad name. In my opinion, this is one of the worst 4 Square videos out there because it tries so hard to be authoritative and witty, but leaves our epic game looking pathetic and laughable. Don’t say I didn’t warn you: if you decide to watch it, you won’t get your 8 minutes back.

Note: You need at least four people to play four square. Maybe if you weren’t such a jerk, you’d have some friends to play with. I’m just saying.

So that’s it for now! If you have any additional videos that you think deserve to be blogged about, holla at us! Of course, we wanna support all forms of 4 Square out there and we love the internet for helping us spread the word. If you’re not up on this already, check out the new web-reality series FOUR by Adam Kontras out of LA! Also, keep making movies and making moves! The internet is big and we’ve got a lot of 4 Square to play… We wanna end out with a feel good video that all 4 Square videos secretly want to be. Enjoy!