I've got a confession to make - I'm completely rubbish at ball sports.  I'm that poor child in your class who could neither run fast nor throw straight, nor catch, and certainly not all at the same time.  I was teased and bullied and I’ve hated ball sports ever since.

For that reason, I have shied away  from playing catching games with my children, and leave it very much up to Dad.  I can't even guarantee to throw the ball in a nice easy place for them to catch it - never mind to catch their efforts at throwing back.

My son (6) unfortunately has inherited this faulty gene from his mum and is not particularly good at catching either.   His sister (8), a bit more athletic, like her dad, gets a bit frustrated with him, and occasionally with me.  Not generally a recipe for happy play.

So when the people from Flicx contacted me to try out their new Crazy Catch, I was curious, and also a little bit sceptical.   Could this be the toy that would help our family to enjoy ballgames together, and also help me and my son with our co-ordination issues?

The Crazy Catch comes in a great zip up carrying bag.  It comes with three balls - easy, medium and hard (although you need a pump to inflate the easy ball), and the catching net has two sides, sane and insane.  It also comes with very clear instructions, some ideas for games, and a cool stopwatch for timing the games.

So last Saturday, we unpacked it, set it up in the garden (incredibly straightforward) and off we went.  The Crazy Catch could in theory be used indoors, but with our record, I wasn't taking any chances!  My son had the easy ball, I had the medium one and my daughter was on hard.

Our first attempts were quite funny, and not very competent - but we were all having fun, playing together and yet each working at our own level.  I played with them for half an hour, then walked away and set up the video camera to film them.  They played for another half hour between themselves before finally having a major squabble so that I had to put it away for all our safety.

I have to say that one hour on the same game, playing together, is something of a record in our house.  My daughter was being really encouraging, when my son started catching the balls, and until the final squabble (caused by my son deliberately moving the net while she was throwing!), they were clearly both having fun, and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise too. Even our incompetence was fun, as we had to run about after the balls - fish them out of bushes etc. I also noticed that my own throwing was becoming more accurate over the time I was playing, and the catching was definitely getting easier.  Maybe there is hope for me yet.

I can definitely say that the Crazy Catch will be a regular feature in our garden and elsewhere over the summer.  We will pack it in the car and take it to Grandma’s and on holiday with us - expect to see us in a park or on a beach near you!  We tried swingball and frisbee before, but these were never very popular due to my daughter's clear superiority, just reinforcing to my son the idea that he is no good. Crazy Catch is much better for our family - we can compete against our own times or we can play cooperative games as a family - encouraging each other as we go.

I would recommend this for any family with children of different ages and abilities.  It can also be used with a range of balls, so could be of real; practical use to budding goalies in soccer, cricket, tennis or rugby players, as well as being a lot of fun.

The Crazy Catch has been a huge hit in Australia, where it is used in schools and by professional sports teams, and I am quite sure that it will soon be taking the UK by storm as well, as it is so much fun for all the family.

I will post some of our family videos very soon - our first (rubbish) one any any improvements we make, so you can see just how much the children's co-ordination improves by playing with the Crazy Catch over a few weeks.

In the meantime, I can offer Motivating Mum readers a Special Offer and also a Competition to win a Crazy Catch.

SPECIAL OFFER

You can get a reduction of nearly 10% on the RRP of a Crazy Catch Upstart which is the model we tested.  Simply phone 01295 816765 or email sue@flicx.co.uk and quote M8US6N or mention Motivating Mum and you will be charged £89.95 including delivery,  instead of the Recommended Retail Price of  £99.02 (£82.52 ex VAT)

COMPETITION

You can win a Crazy Catch for your garden in the following competition, or if you have already bought one using the offer code above, Crazy Catch will refund you the RRP of £99.02, so you will even make a small profit.

To enter the competition you first need to be a subscriber to the Motivating Mum newsletter (sign up here).  Secondly you need to visit the Flicx website, to get the answer to the following question:  What are the three models of Crazy Catch called?

Email the answer to this question to debbie@motivatingmum.co.uk.  Once you have done that you will earn further entries (max of one per day) by posting the following tweet:

#CrazyCatch is the most fun you can have in the garden this summer. #Win one here http://ow.ly/4ts6x then please RT

Terms and Conditions

The competition is open to subscribers to the Motivating Mum newsletter, who are over 18 and resident in the UK.

The prize is one Crazy Catch Upstart, which will be supplied direct from Flicx. If the winner has already purchased one or more Crazy Catches using the promotion code then he/she will be refunded the full RRP in cash.

Entry emails must be received by 30th April 2011 and tweets published on or before 30th April 2011. The winner will be drawn at random from valid entries received on or before that date.

Email addresses will be shared with Flicx.  Entry to the competition implies acceptance that Flicx may contact you on the entry email address.  You will then be given the chance to unsubscribe from further communications.

The winner will be announced in the Motivating Mum newsletter which is published during the first week in May.  If the winner does not contact me within one week of the newsletter being published then the prize will be reallocated.

Delivery will be within 28 days of Flicx receiving the winner’s address, and the competition prize may vary at the discretion of Flicx

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