A story told in a round
Jr: Somehow we ended up with these two 55 gallon barrels. It started with learning to walk on the barrels. From there we escalated to who could walk better and then to the invention of barrel fighting.
Sr: Years ago, life was different then it is now. More children, more waste. Decided to get rid of trash like I did when I was young. My uncle had an auto dealer ship with a repair garage. One thing they had was empty oil barrels. So I went and got two empty oil barrels and brought them home. Placed the barrels in the back yard. Next was to cut the top cover off. This would give a container to put in trash. Then I would take a match and start the trash on fire and allow it to burn up. An easy way to get rid of the trash.
So I unloaded the barrels and went into the house to tell my wife. Suddenly, there was a lot of noise outside. I rushed outside to see what had happened.
Jr: The rules of barrel fighting are simple. Try to make your opponent fall off his (and since the game was only played by my brothers it was always his) barrel. You were not permitted to touch your opponent or his barrel with anything else besides your own barrel. So no putting your foot on your opponent’s barrel!
Sr: My 6 sons ranged in age from 16 to 4. The youngest was the only one who didn’t “barrel fight”.
Jr: There is a lot of skill required to be a proficient barrel fighter. You need to be able to walk your barrel forward and backwards. Walk it while steering it left and right. Accelerate into your opponents to create more impact while simultaneously balancing yourself so you didn’t also fall. And you needed to be able to all of this while not getting off your barrel or touching the ground.
Jr: Once we had perfected single barrel fighting and as my younger brothers got older we next developed barrel fighting doubles. In doubles two people need to be working together and if either falls then the team loses. As you can see from the pictures even walking on a barrel with two people is challenging. Once you add the need of balancing as you try to smash into another barrel it becomes a real team sport with footwork , balance, and communication.
Sr: you need to write the end of the story