This should help you get a good feel for the kinds of junk you might collect in preparation for an event.

Junk

A lot of the success of the event depends on the junk we collect. We want to have enough for at least three equal heaps so that up to three different sports can be played simultaneously. Each heap should have at least 5 socks per player, and at least one pair of pantyhose per player.

Other Junk:

If it's stuff you'd throw out anyway, then really anything clean and soft - blankets, sheets, pillowcases, hats, gloves, mittens, ties - could make things that much more fun.We could use really anything that we can easily get a lot of. Some really successful materials in the past have been:

• brooms
• bubblewrap
• cardboard cartons
• cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels
• carpet tubes (you know, the very long cardboard tube that is in the core of a carpet roll)
• newspaper
• paper bags
• plastic shopping bags ("t-shirt bags")
• PVC pipe and connectors
• rubber bands
• shoe boxes
• shoes
• styrofoam

If sponsored by a business, look for more junk at business locations.

If we have enough sheets and blankets, it would be great to use them as "spectator stations" - places where it's clear that people can sit and watch what's going on.

Depending on the enthusiasm of the facilitators, there are some fun things we can add. We can get the spectators to create the stadium and any accoutrements we can think of. We can also have them create trophies out of junk. We can have the players create musical instruments, uniforms, and any of the other of the trappings of sports spectaculars.