exercise · all tools
Loser Ball
Depth · what it can open●○○○1 — informational
Holding · facilitation1 — host
Trust · group readiness★any
Disclosure · what is sharednone
A ball is thrown to a named person, who is required to fail to catch it — and the group's job is to find something genuinely praiseworthy in how they failed. 'Good move!', 'Great energy!' The exercise is the celebration, not the catch.
Hold with care
- Being publicly praised for failing is the point and is not comfortable for everyone, particularly early in a group's life
Practical
- Time
- — min
- Group
- ?–∞ · large-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- A ball
- Mechanisms
- feedback-mirroring, behavioral-rehearsal, cognitive-reframing
- Change scope
- state → skill · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- improvencyclopedia.org/games/Loser_Ball.html — Improv Encyclopedia, open
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
Source link checked 1 Sep 2026 — reachable
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Attributed by the source to Jill Bernard — Improvisational theatre
In this directory via Improv Encyclopedia
status: checked · added 2026-08-31