Hope Solo of the USA looks dejected after losing 3-5 after penalty shoot-out the FIFA Women's World Cup Final match between Japan and USA at the FIFA World Cup stadium Frankfurt on July 17, 2011 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

A Japan soccer fan reacts as she watches Japan's FIFA Women's World Cup final match against the U.S. in Vancouver, at a public viewing event in Tokyo, Japan, July 6, 2015. Japan lost the match 5-2 to the U.S. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Swimmers in the Sky Pool, a transparent swimming pool suspended 35 meters above ground between two apartment buildings, during hot weather in Nine Elms, central London on Monday, August 12, 2024. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)

Patrick Hausding and Stephan Feck of Germany compete in the men's 3-meter synchro springboard preliminary competition at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, July 23, 2013. (Photo by David J. Phillip/AP Photo)

Shanshan He, of China, competes at Women's 1500 -T11 at the Stade de France stadium, during the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, September 1, 2024, in Paris, France. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

In a simpler time all a child or an adult needed to enjoy the outdoors was a ball and a stick. Or maybe an old tire tied to a high branch to fashion a swing. And the only instruction given to children was to “be home before dark”. Now there are iPads and computers and television screens and shrinking safe public spaces. But despite the distractions and limitations of space, these images show the charm of kicking a ball or skipping rope endures. Sometimes with modifications as a nod to changing times. Here: in this Saturday, June 20, 2015 photo, a boy runs while playing with a motorcycle wheel in Samugari, Ayacucho, Peru. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Japan's Mayumi Someya (R) competes against Venezuela's Claudymar Garces Sequera in the women's kumite -61kg elimination round of the karate competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on August 6, 2021. (Photo by Carl Recine/Reuters)

Frost covers a face shield of a volunteer before the start of the women's 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon cross-country skiing competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, February 5, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo)