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Team Building
Exercises
From the terrific book:
Catch Them Being Good
The Hula Circle
Objective: to develop competition and cooperation
Equipment: 1 Hula Hoop/team and a stopwatch
Numbers: 8-15 individuals/team
The Game:
Each team stands in a circle and clasps hands. That grip must not be broken. Place a Hula-Hoop on the forearm of the team captain and have her re-grasp the hands of her teammates to complete the hand-in-hand closed circle. On a “ready, set, go” command, teams begin to pass the Hula-Hoop around the circle without breaking their grip. Timing begins on “go!” Players bend and twist their bodies through the hoop by climbing through it, ultimately getting the hoop over their heads to the other side of their bodies. The entire process repeats itself as the hoop travels from teammate to teammate around the circle as fast as possible. Keep in mind that the handgrip can never b broken. If it is, the Hoop must start back at the beginning. The first team to pass the hoop around the circle w/o breaking grip is the winner.
Variations:
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Add additional hoops for each team.
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Players stand with back toward center circle.
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Teams compete against the stopwatch.
Lessons:
Players will discover that just because their team may be far in the lead (or behind) at one point in the contest, a few small errors (or quick recoveries) on anyone’s part can lead to disaster (or success). The point is that whether you are winning or losing at any given point in the contest, it is no guarantee of the final outcome. Truly, anything is possible in sport. Teams often get the lead and relax, and the loss of focus and competitive fire can be costly.
Players learn the importance of competing against someone else (as in beating the other team) as well as the value of competing against their previous best performance (as in lowering the team’s best time).
At first, players will think that winning is the only goal or that winning is when they simply beat another team. Ultimately, you want them to und that what they initially thought was good enough, fast enough and successful enough can actually be made better and faster. It is the same principle we hope they apply to life. With planning, motivation and ingenuity they can learn skills and strategies to keep lowering their previous best time and therefore improve the overall team performance.
Debriefing:
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What did we learn?
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How can we do it better?
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What strategies did you and your teammates use to lower your time?
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Were you ever ahead and then lost the lead? How did that feel?
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Were you ever behind and come back to win? How did that feel?
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How did your teammates handle a mistake made by a member of the team?
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How did you feel when you made a mistake?
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How do these lessons pertain to the game of soccer?
Web Administrator Ken Gamble