As parents, we frequently feel that merely getting young children onto the grounds and then into youth football is enough to establish a cohesive, close-knit team. However, in other cases, this isn’t always the case, and creating a sense of closeness and belonging is a significant reason why parents enroll their children in sports year after year. Sometimes the teams don’t come together as easily as we’d like. So, how can coaches assist in making sure that everyone on the team feels connected and included? When your team isn’t as close as you’d like, team-building activities are a terrific method to bridge the gap.
Why Are Team Building Exercises Beneficial to Your Organization?
To begin, they aid in the development of bonds among teams. Most team-building activities necessitate some problem-solving and learning to express and listen to diverse points of view on how to approach the work at hand. This promotes the development of social skills, communication skills, and leadership abilities. Team building also pushes your players to think critically about the scenario at hand and to try various techniques to fix their problem if the first one fails. This is an excellent lesson in analysis and criticism, as well as the importance of failing and trying again.
Read more: TIPS ON HOW TO BE A POSITIVE YOUTH BASKETBALL COACH
Plan Your Activities
Before you take your team out for a day of activities, consider what gaps you are attempting to fill within your team: is your team dealing with morale, confidence, or connection? Do your team members know each other from school? Or are these athletes coming from different parts of the country and don’t know each other at all? Is it difficult for them to communicate well on the field and function as a team? Evaluate the current state of your team, identify any areas for improvement, and select actions that will assist in resolving those issues. It will be easy to arrange your day and choose the most effective activities to satisfy your player’s demands once you know what you’re searching for.
The name of the game is “fun.”
While most people wince when they hear the words ‘team-building activities’ and ‘icebreakers,’ this is not the case for children and teenagers. However, make sure to maximize the fun potential in each of your games since this is what will ultimately assist in establishing a stronger sense of connection among colleagues. Because kids already share an interest in athletics, choose games that need more mobility.
Inspiration for Team Building
To get you started, we’ve compiled a list of engaging team-building activities for groups of any age.
Human Knot – Form a circle with your team and have each athlete hold another athlete’s hand across the circle, repeating until everyone’s hands are interwoven. Your group will then work together to untangle the circle’s knot of hands. It’s a terrific method to get your team to work together to solve an issue, and it’s sure to make everyone chuckle!
Scavenger Hunt — A tried-and-true team-building game since everyone, including adults, enjoys a good scavenger hunt! At our annual Team Snap company summits, we often participate in scavenger hunts to foster relationship-building across teams and departments.
Brainstorm – Create a list of “10 Signs you’re a Good Team Player” as a team and use it to encourage good sportsmanship throughout the season.
Team Show & Tell — Inform players that you will be holding an old-fashioned show-and-tell session before practice. Allow each team member to bring a favorite item (sports-related or not) that will help teammates learn more about them.
Finishing Touches — did someone say photos?! In an age when social media reigns supreme, this is most likely an easy victory for a team-building activity. Draw a straight line on the ground and have each player stand on one side of it. When you give the signal, each athlete must cross the finish line at the same moment. It takes a few attempts and some creative problem solving to figure out how they can all cross the line at the same time. To make it more enjoyable, we propose shooting a few photos or filming the action to capture the fun-filled moments.
