Sports and Leadership
Day Camp Plan
Includes: Pre-Camp
Preparation, Materials, Schedule and Activity Explanations
Dear
In
this packet you will find all the information you will need to put on your very
own Sports and Leadership Camp in your community. Putting on such a camp will require time and
energy but it is very doable. All of the
concepts in this plan are flexible. You
know your community best, so make the adjustments that your gut tells you will
be important for success in your particular situation. The camp that I put on with the help of my
fellow PCV’s, Ukrainian colleagues and friends was one of the most satisfying
experiences of my Peace Corps service and I know it can be for you as
well. Go get after it!
Best of Luck,
W. Bradley Luckhardt
PCV Lutugino, Luganskaya Oblast
June 2009
Objectives:
To provide an opportunity for children of
the community to participate in sports in a healthy, supportive and fun
atmosphere. To develop leadership and
teamwork skills on and off the playing field.
(In our camp we did not emphasize English as a primary objective, but
you can certainly do so if you’d like.
We chose not to in order to encourage participation of all different
types of kids. Still, kids will get
great practice as they interact with PCV’s and the Student Leaders will get a
good chance to act as translators as they explain rules and explain activities
to their teams)
Structure:
This plan is for a five day camp. Each day is planned to run for five
hours. The first day is a leadership
clinic for a group of older students, referred to in this plan as Student
Leaders, who will work alongside PCV’s and Ukrainian teachers/coaches to lead
the activities of the following four days.
Materials and
Financing:
You will need a few items to do the
activities in this camp plan and if you cannot borrow them then you will have
to do what we did and buy them. What we
tried to do was make the camp a sort of fundraising activity. Each participant paid 20 UAH (the second year
we already had most of the gear so the price dropped to 10 UAH) for the week
and with the money we raised we bought everything we needed. The sports equipment can then be donated to a
school or organization or used in a future sports club or camp. You can also give some of the gear away at
the end of the week as prizes to ‘Campers of the Week’.
Materials:
(The
amount of each of these materials depends on the numbers that you are expecting
for your camp. If you’re not sure make
your best guess and go from there. The
first year I had no idea how many kids would show up and predicted about 4
teams of kids with between 5-10 kids per team)
- 1 basketball per team
- 1 Nerf football per team
- 1 Frisbee per team
- 2 Kickballs (whatever you can find that is round, kickable and catchable)
- A bunch of old newspapers or magazines
- 2 big pieces of blank paper per team and markers
- Water (approx. 5-liters for every 10 kids per day) and Cups
Preparing for
Camp in 5 Easy Steps:
1. Partner
- Find a member, or preferably members (plural), of the community willing to
support your efforts in putting on this camp.
The person(s) does not necessarily need to participate in the on-the-field
activities of the camp but they will be vital in the pre-camp
organization. They are there to help
gather support for and interest in the camp but also they will be there as a
troubleshooter for all of those unexpected surprises that you should expect are
coming.
2. Place
– Where are you going to hold this camp?
Are you going to hold it at a school, at a field in town, at a sport’s
school? Will it be indoors only,
outdoors only or a combination of the two?
When choosing a site to hold the camp think about whom you are going to
invite: where do they go to school and how many of them are there? If it’s going to be exclusively outdoors
you’re going to need to have a contingency plan for bad weather. Once you have chosen a place you will need to
see if you will be allowed access to it for an entire week. Find out who in the
community is responsible for the site and set up a meeting with them to pitch
your camp. There is a copy of a formal
letter in Russian and English to a city official in this packet that you can
use as a model.
3. People
– Who are you going to invite? How many
and how old? Although this camp is about
sports and leadership, it is not necessary for anyone (PCV’s, Student Leaders
or kids) to have experience in either.
The camp activities are designed to give all kids with all levels of
athletic abilities opportunities for success and fun through sport. This is your camp and your choice but the
author recommends participants from 5th grade to 8th
grade and Student Leaders from 9th grade to 11th grade. The first year I ran the camp we got only
about 30 kids, the second year we got more than 60. These numbers came only after going from
class to class and inviting all of the students of the 5th to 8th
grades in three different schools of a medium sized town. We left admission open even through the week,
but if you know that you are only capable of hosting so many kids I would
strongly consider creating a registration with a limited number of spots. Be sure that those who sign up understand the
commitment (perhaps ask for the money up front) and have a waiting list ready
as well. Attached to the end of this
plan is a one page flyer in Russian. The
bottom of it is a permission slip asking for a parent’s signature and contact
information, it is to be cut off and returned to you.
4. Propaganda
– The key to organizing any camp will be the ground work you put into gathering
both support and interest. This is done
by talking to colleagues, community organizers, municipal officials, fellow
PCV’s and most importantly students. The
camp is pretty much won or lost with your efforts during this step. Hit the streets and phones and get people
behind you and your camp. It will be
important to get commitments from the older students who will act as Student Leaders. From my experience older students can be too
cool for school and thus getting them involved will require persistent
coaxing. The fact that there will be
American PCV’s at the camp was a great carrot for getting older students to
sign on. REMEMBER it is not necessary
that kids are good at either English or sports.
If you know they like one or the other better push that as your selling
point to get them to take part. If they
love English but are afraid of sports tell them they will be mostly used as a
translator for PCV’s, if it’s the opposite tell them that they’ll be there to
be like ‘captains’ for the sports activities.
In the end they’ll be doing both.
5. Plan
– Using the following camp plan as a guide should help you be organized. Whatever you decide to do at your camp be
sure that you and your team of PCV’s know what each day’s objectives and
activities are beforehand; kids can smell fear, or in this case disorganization
or “unpreparedness.” Everyone on the
same page from the beginning will set a positive tone for each day and for the
week.
Running
the Camp
Safety
Be sure that you bring your own first aid
kit and water for the kids. Most
important in the first aid kit will be stuff for cuts, floor burns and skinned
knees as kids are sure to fall during some of the games. As for water we bought a cup for each kid and
brought a bunch of 5-liter bottles each day.
Depending on the heat a bottle per 10 kids should be enough. The kids signed the cups with their initials
and each team was responsible for its own stack of cups for the week.
1. RESPECT Your Environment – RESPECT One
Another – RESPECT Yourself
2. Be Positive - Don’t Criticize, Encourage
3. Be a good example to others
4. Play together as a team
(Emphasize
these rules to your Student Leaders and fellow PCV’s. Be sure that when you go into teams the Camp Leaders
reiterate the Camp
Rules
Student
Leaders
Volunteer Mike and Student Leader Yana work together to explain the
Rules of Slide Tag
In many ways these are the kids that this
camp is all about. For most of my
students it was the first opportunity they had at any sort of formal leadership
role. They are what made the camp go
smoothly by being good role models for the little guys, by being a translator
for PCV’s, by helping to explain activities, by keeping everyone on task and by
encouraging everyone to be actively involved (this last point is SUPER
important). The Student Leaders will
follow the example of the PCV’s and subsequently the participants of the camp
will follow the example of the Student Leaders.
At our camp we had a short meeting with the PCV’s and Student Leaders 10
minutes before the start of each day.
This was a nice way to remind the Student Leaders of their special role
in the camp and to get everyone on the same page before the craziness began
with the kids. Also, just as kids smell
fear they will also see you and your leaders ‘united front’ if you come into
the gym or onto the field all together and ready to go.
Breaking
Up Into Teams
Sitting together in teams broken up into a nice mix of boys and
girls, fast and slow, tall and short, older and younger, sporty and
not-so-sporty
This can be tricky. It will depend on how many Student Leaders,
PCV’s and kids are at the camp. We tried
to have at least one Student Leader and one PCV on each team. A good size for each team is between 5 and
10. Much more and it can get a little
difficult to keep kid’s on task and any fewer would make it difficult to do the
various activities. The teams should be co-ed and of all ages. Try your best to balance the teams in terms
of sporting ability, age, gender and personality (active, shy, etc). The activities will work best with a nice
balance on all the teams.
(Explanations of each
activity follow at the end of the schedule)
Monday – Day 1 – Leadership Clinic for Student Leaders
9:00 – 9:20 Welcome and discussion of
camp objectives (Introduce Camp Director Camp Rules
9:20 – 9:35 Team Warm Up (See pages 8
and 9 for activity explanation)
9:35 – 10:00 People to People (p. 8)
10:00 – 10:30 Ultimate Frisbee Skills
and Rules (pp. 11, 12)
10:30 – 11:00 Benches (p. 10)
11:00 – 11:30 Ultimate Frisbee
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 12:30 Lava (pp. 10, 11)
12:30 – 1:00 Rules of Rotational Kickball
(pp. 17, 18)
1:00 – 1:30 Rotational Kickball
1:30 – 2 Team Knots (p. 21)
Tuesday – Day 2 – Ultimate
Frisbee
9:00 – 9:30 Welcome, Introduction of
Camp Director, PCV’s, Student Leaders, camp rules, camp objectives and division
into teams
9:30 – 10:30 WITH TEAM – People to
People / Camp Rules
10:30 – 10:45 Team Presentations
10:45 – 10:50 Water Break
10:50 – 11:30 WITH TEAM – Teambuilding
Game ‘Lava’ (p. 10, 11)
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 12:45 WITH TEAM – Into to
Ultimate Frisbee and skills practice (pp. 11, 12)
1:00 – 2:00 Ultimate Frisbee Round Robin
Tournament
Wednesday – Day 3 – Hoops
9:00 – 9:30 WITH TEAM – Team Warm up (pp.
8, 9)
9:30 – 10:00 Sprite Coke Pepsi Fanta (pp.
18, 19)
10:00 – 10:05 Water Break
10:05 – 10:30 WITH TEAM – Teambuilding
Game ‘Benches’ (p. 10)
10:30 – 11:30 WITH ½ the TEAMS – Intro
to basketball and Skills Practice (p. 15)
WITH ½ the TEAMS –
Poster Contest (p. 23)
(Rotate the teams through practice and poster contest until all of
the teams have completed their posters)
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 12:20 Poster Presentation
12:20 – 2:00 Basketball Round Robin Tournament
Thursday – Day 4 –
American Football
9:00 – 9:30 WITH TEAM – Team Warm up (pp.
8, 9)
9:30 – 10:00 Slide Tag (p. 22)
10:00 – 10:05 Water Break
10:05 – 10:30 WITH TEAM – Monster (p.
13)
10:30 – 11:30 WITH TEAM – Intro to A.
Football and Skills Practice (pp. 16, 17)
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 12:30 WITH TEAM – More Skills
Practice
1:00 – 2:00 American Football Round
Robin Tournament
Friday – Last Day -
Kickball
9:00 – 9:30 WITH TEAM – Team Warm up
9:30 – 10:00 Snake Tag (p. 19)
10:00 – 10:05 Water Break
10:05 – 10:30 WITH TEAM – Team Knots (p.
21) / Relay Races (pp. 13, 14)
10:30 – 11:30 WITH TEAM – Intro to
Rotation Kickball and Skills Practice (pp. 17, 18)
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 12:30 WITH TEAM – More Skills
Practice
1:00 – 2:00 Round Robin Tournament
Activity Explanations
When running the camp be aware that
sometimes you will be short on equipment, have too many kids or the kids will
lose interest. To solve each of these
problems you should be ready to send half of the kids away to play a game like
Slide Tag or Sharks and Minnows while the rest can focus on Team Building or
Sports. Being flexible with your
activities and schedule will save the day!
Team Names and
Motto’s
Lions team poster. Notice the
team name is in English but the motto is in Russian
Kids love being part of a team. Give each team a big piece of paper and a
couple of markers to draw their name and motto out. We allowed either English or Russian but you
can do as you like depending on whether or not you’d like to emphasize English
practice as a primary objective of your camp.
People
to People
This game is used to allow the members of
each team to get to know one another.
Break the team up into pairs with the PCV and a Student Leader out front
explaining the rules. One person will
lead the activity and will call out body parts (e.g. "elbow to
head"), and the pairs will have to touch their body parts to match the
instructions. Repeat until pairs cannot
proceed any further or break contact. If
"people-to-people" is called out, partners will break apart, and each
individual must find a new partner. Each
time individuals switch partners, they must say something interesting about
themselves to their new partner (Example: My name is Brad and I love raspberry
jam).
Team Warm Up
This is a good introduction to good training
habits for the campers. A nice 15 minute
warm up consists of two parts: first a moving callisthenic warm up and then a
relaxed stretch. Be sure to give each
team enough space to move around a bit.
Team Crazy Frogs kicking butt during their team warm up
Calisthenics
For calisthenics line your team up
shoulder to shoulder facing you from about 15 yards away. Model each movement to them and back to your
spot and then have them repeat what you did to you and back to their line. 1st
movement is a light jog, about 50% speed. 2nd
movement is an easy childhood skip.
3rd movement is high
knees – emphasizing that the goal is to get as many repetitions in during
the 15 yards as possible, not who finishes first. 4th movement is butt-kicks
with the same emphasis on reps. 5th movement is a lateral
(defensive) shuffle; emphasize that we are not crossing our legs on this
movement. 6th movement is also a lateral movement but in this one
the emphasis is on crossing ones legs, left in front of right and then right in
front of left.
Stretching
The
Rockets stretching it out
After you finish the more active
calisthenics then stand your team in a circle for a nice easy stretch. Emphasize that during these stretches one
should not bounce up and down but slowly streeetch the muscles, holding each
stretch for 10-15 seconds. 1st stretch is for the hamstrings,
feet together and reach from the sky slowly down to one’s toes. 2nd
is the same but with feet spread apart and go from left foot for a few seconds
to center to right foot. 3rd stretch is for the quads,
holding your foot up to your butt, left then right. 4th
stretch is for the calves, lunge forward with the back foot flat to the
ground, the back leg straight and the front leg bent at the knee. 5th
stretch is for the neck; roll your head slowly clockwise and then
counterclockwise. 6th stretch is for arms, pull your arm across
your chest and then switch and go the other way.
Benches
'Benches' is an excellent team building
activity for the beginning of the week. It
will force the member of each team to get to know one another and forces
communication. If at all possible try to
find long, low, narrow benches for this activity; about 15 feet long and 1 foot
wide. If you cannot find such benches
you could use planks of wood of a similar length and width, or simply use lines
on the sports court or tape. This
activity is not a competition between teams; it is a challenge for each team to
solve amongst themselves. If at the end
each team has succeeded then you can have teams challenge one another. Have the members of a team line up standing
on a bench randomly. Then ask them to
organize themselves from tallest to shortest without falling off. Emphasis:
This is not about speed, it is about communication and teamwork; the object is
to accomplish the task without falling off.
As a leader of this task, you can either have the team start from the
beginning if someone falls off, or you can count the falls and let them continue
to the end; in this case let them try again to see how close they can come to
no falls. Next have them line up from
youngest to oldest. Then according to
the darkness of their hair. If during
the summer you can have them line up according to the length of their
shorts/pants. Each time remind them of
the importance of teamwork. This is a
great opportunity for Student Leaders to jump in to teach, they can often
communicate this point to the kids even better than volunteers.
Lava
Volunteers
and Student Leaders learn the best way to cross the lava during the Leadership
Clinic on Day 1.
OBJECTIVE: get the kids working together to
solve a problem in route to a common goal that requires participation of all
team members. SET UP: Mark out a
rectangular area about 1 meter by 15 meters (If you don’t have cones 5-liter
water bottles are a great substitute).
RULES: The goal of the game is for each of
the team members to get from one end of the area to the other without ever
stepping in the ‘lava’ (ground). To do
this the team has a limited number of ‘islands’ (magazines, newspapers). If an island is in the lava for more than
three seconds without anyone standing on it, it will be lost. Challenge each team to try and get across the
lava using the fewest number of islands possible. Begin by giving one more island than there
are team members, if there are 10 team members begin with 11 islands. If they successfully make it across ask them
to try it again with 9 and so on.
The
Lions traversing the lava pit as volunteers give advice and enforce rules
EMPHASIZE that only by working well
together can the entire team make it across the lava. Remind them that this will mean communicating
with one another, especially between the first members into the lava and the last. Encourage them to support one another by
holding each other up.
Ultimate
Frisbee
Team
Skills Practice
“Memory” - Basic throwing and
catching: Put the team into a big
circle. The first player with the
Frisbee says their name and their favorite something (fruit, sport, athlete,
music group, etc.) and passes the Frisbee to another teammate across the
circle. That player should repeat all of
the previous names and favorites. For
example: Brad raspberry, Nastya bananas, Igor apples and my name is Anna and I
like kiwi.
Line Drills
– Catching on the run: Break the team
into two groups. Line them each up into
a single file line with those lines facing one another head on from about 20
yards apart. Each line will have one
thrower off to the side with a Frisbee.
The first person from each line will run out about 10 yards catch the
Frisbee on the run and then take it to the opposite lines thrower and get into
the back of the line.
Keep Away –
Offense and Defense: Choose three offensive players and two defensive
players. The three offensive players
should stand in a triangle with the two defensive players in the middle. The offense is trying to pass the Frisbee to
one another without having the defense knock it down on intercept it. If the defensive player knocks it down or
intercepts it they get to go to offense and the player who was at fault goes to
defense.
Ultimate Frisbee – This is a great first team sport for the week. It requires all of the teamwork skills that
we are trying to emphasize at the camp and at the same time has simple, easy to
understand rules and skills that all ages are capable of learning. Rules:
Demarcate a playing field rectangular in size with two end-zones using chalk or
cones or water bottles. A member from
each team should come forward for a round of Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine
who starts with the Frisbee. The two
teams begin on either end of the field within their own end-zone. One team throws the Frisbee to the other to
begin the game. To score the team with
the Frisbee should pass the Frisbee from player to player until they catch the
Frisbee across the line in the end-zone.
If the Frisbee touches the ground it changes possession to the other
team at the spot it hit the ground. The
player with possession of the Frisbee cannot move except for a pivot step like
in basketball. The defense cannot touch
the offensive player with the Frisbee nor the Frisbee itself until it is in the
air at which point they can knock it down or intercept it to steal
possession. After a score the team
scored upon starts with the Frisbee from their own end-zone and begins their
own possession. Emphasis: Make sure that your Student Leaders and PCV’s are
encouraging participation from the entire team.
Tell them that they will be more successful with short passes and try to
distribute the Frisbee so that all team members get a chance to catch and
throw.
Monster
Christina
Monster 7 Arms, 4 Legs and 4 Heads
The kids will work in groups to create a
monster using their own bodies. Break
into groups of five or six, Student Leaders and PCV’s can participate when
necessary. Tell the team that their
monster must have 3 heads, 4 arms, and 6 legs, no more, no less. The amount of heads, arms and legs can be
altered depending on the size of the group.
Relay Races
Relay Race Advice – Be sure to make good use of your Student Leaders for each of
these races. Go over the rules slowly,
use a few volunteers from the kids as examples.
Make sure you have penalties for cheating. For example, in the balloon relay you are
bound to have kids using their hands to hold the balloon instead of the sticks,
either have PCV’s on hand to call them on it, or even better you could time the
race and give time penalties for cheating.
If all of the rules are clear at the beginning it’ll be a more fairly
run race and without as many problems regarding who cheated more. BE
SURE to emphasize the importance of encouraging one’s teammates as opposed
to criticizing one’s opponents.
Orange Relay Race:
Need: Oranges
Each team has an orange. The team stands in a single file line with a
couple of feet between each member. The
team must pass the orange from one person to the next until each member has had
the orange. They cannot use their hands,
if the orange falls they may pick it up and continue but it must pass
successfully all the way down the line. The
team to finish first wins.
Balloon Relay Race:
Need: Balloons and sticks or straws.
Each team has a balloon and two sticks or
straws. A player from each team runs toward an object, around it, and back to
his/her team. The players must keep the balloon in between the sticks or straws
without touching the balloon. Players switch off the balloon in between the
sticks or straws onto another teammate until everyone in the team has gone. The
team to finish first wins.
Football Relay Race:
Need: 1 Football and 5 cones (or water
bottles) per team. Each team lines up
single file behind two cones that mark the start, one player from each team is
the quarterback standing a couple of yards to the side of the line football in
hand. About 15 yards in front of that
line place three cones, each 3 yards apart.
The first player runs out, catches a pass from the QB, then weaves
between the three cones and weaves back running to hand the football off to the
QB, at which point the next player runs out for their turn. The first team to have all of their players
finish wins.
Basketball
Team
Skills Practice
Passing –
Line the team up shoulder to shoulder with about 2 yards between each
player. One player should begin
basketball in hand facing the first player in the line about 5 yards away. This player should make a chest pass to the
first player and then receive it back.
As they receive the pass they should begin shuffling sideways down the
line making the next pass to the second player in line; be sure to encourage
the player to keep moving as they pass and catch. After they’ve made a pass to each player in
line have the player switch places and continue the drill until everyone has
gone. Staying in the line repeat the
drill, this time have the players practicing bounce passes.
Dribbling –
Keep the line that you had for the passing drills but this time have one player
dribble the ball weaving in and out between the players in line. Have them go down the line dribbling right
handed and back dribbling left handed.
Rotate until everyone has gone.
Passing/Defense – Have four players get into a square with one holding a ball. Put two players in the center of the square
on defense. The four on offense should
try and pass the ball around the outside or through the middle while keeping it
away from the defense. If a defensive
player steals the ball they get to play offense, the player who made the
intercepted pass goes to defense.
Round
Robin Tournament
Rules – In
order to emphasize the concept of ‘Team’, we added two extra rules for our
basketball tournament. First, each
player is only allowed four dribbles before he must pick it up and look to pass
or shoot. Second, a team must make at
least three passes before they can shoot.
The count resets if the other team gains possession of the ball or if a
shot is taken.
American Football
Line Drills
– Catching and Throwing: Break the team
into two groups. Line them each up into
a single file line with those lines facing one another head on from about 20
yards apart. Each line will have one
quarterback off to the side with a football.
The first person from each line will run out about 10 yards catch the
Frisbee on the run and then take it to the opposite lines quarterback and get
into the back of the line.
Volunteer Matt directing his receiver while the
defender stays close
Defense vs. Offense – To teach the basic concepts of offense and defense begin with a
three person drill. A quarterback and
receiver on offense and one player on defense covering the receiver. Teach the students that the offense has four
tries to get the ball across a line down on the other end of the
field/court. Each try begins with the
offense on one side of the ball and the defense on the other side. The receiver should try to get open/free from
their defender and the quarterback should pass them the ball. Once they’ve caught it they should run
towards the line and away from their defender.
The defender should try to stay close to their receiver and when the
ball is in the air they should try to knock it down or steal it. If their receiver catches it they can stop
the player and the try by touching them with both hands. The next try begins at the place where the
receiver was touched. If the ball is not
caught the next try begins at the same place as before. (Rule Modification: to simplify the game we
tell the students that there is only one pass every play, after that the player
who caught the ball must run but not pass).
Try this drill with a volunteer as the quarterback first, until everyone
has played offense and defense. Then
begin adding offensive and defensive players 1v1 2v2 3v3 etc. They will pick this up more quickly than you
might think, especially if they’ve already played Ultimate Frisbee which has
taught them the concepts of invasion games.
Round
Robin Tournament
Depending on the skill levels of the kids
and how quickly they pick up throwing and catching, begin with volunteers or
Student Leaders as the quarterbacks, emphasizing participation and spreading
the ball around to different receivers.
If kids forget the no second pass rule then count the player as down
where they made the second pass and start the next try from there. No blitzing the quarterback will help to
emphasize what is happening between the receivers and defenders.
Rotational
Kickball
Rules
and Skills
This game is a simple modification on the
playground and elementary school classic.
The skills are only rolling a ball straight and slow, catching, passing
and kicking a ball that is rolling slowly towards you. That is to say any child of any athletic
ability will have a blast playing this game.
Passing and catching have already been covered during the basketball day
and the kicking will be picked up quickly by students of this soccer-crazed
nation. The rules are these: instead of
three bases and a home plate there will be only one base and a home plate, the
only base being located where the pitcher is (about 30 feet out in front of
home). The pitcher should roll the ball
slowly and smoothly (no bounces or curvy spins!) over home plate. The kicker should kick the ball towards the
field of defensive players and begin running from home to the base and
back. Each time either the base or home
is reached is a run (the other players on offense should count in unison
together as the player runs back and forth to keep them engaged – in English if
you want). Meanwhile the defense should
pass the ball from one player to the next until everyone has touched the ball,
once this happens the final player should yell stop and the kicker stops and
the total runs are added up.
Rockets
pass the ball around on defense
If a ball is fielded in the air, the
defense does not need to pass it around to everyone, the kicker stops as soon
as the ball is caught. Also, the
defensive players cannot move once the ball has been fielded and the passing
has begun (otherwise they’ll crowd together and make short handoffs). There are NO OUTS. Each time a team is on offense every player
gets a chance to kick. If there are too
many players (over 10), then half get to kick each time. Emphasis:
The focus of the volunteers and Student Leaders should be on the defensive side
of the ball. They should constantly
remind students that the key to this game is in working together on defense to
get the ball to everyone quickly. This
means soft, catchable passes and lots of communication. If a player drops the ball, their teammates
should pick them up with positive support like, “That’s ok you’ll catch it next
time!” and not, “We are losing because you can’t catch!” On offense this positive support is also
important for team morale, encouraging everyone and praising them for each run
they score.
Sprite Coke Pepsi Fanta
A crowd pleaser every time this game is a
lot of fun, good competition and great for building teamwork skills as everyone
will be playing with a partner. Ask
everyone to grab a partner, anyone left without a partner gets to play with a
volunteer as their partner. Have one
half of the partners line up shoulder to shoulder, arms length apart, facing
the other half of the partners lined up opposite them about twenty meters
away. One person will lead the game with
any extra help available spread out to observe and judge. The one person will give a command: Sprite,
Coke, Pepsi or Fanta. The last team to
follow the command is out. Then the
teams line up and play again until a final pairing of partners is
victorious. Each command has a different
action:
Coke:
Partners on the right side should run across to their partner, who will kneel,
and sit on their knee
Pepsi:
Partners on the left side should run across to their partner, who will kneel,
and sit on their knee
Sprite: Both
partners should run to the middle where they will meet, turn, and hook both
arms together
Fanta: Don’t move!
Anyone who does move will be eliminated along with their partner.
Snake Tag
Snake Tag is another variation of tag that
is a good game to keep at the ready in case your camp needs a shot of energy or
you, as director, need a few minutes to get a different activity ready. Most important to this game is defining the
playing area. This of course will depend
on the number of children and where you are holding your camp; usually half of
a basketball court is a good size for this game. Once the out-of-bounds are defined have the
children spread out. One person begins
as the ‘head of the snake.’ He chases
everyone until he tags someone, then he joins hands with that person. These two now begin to chase everyone until
some is tagged, then they join hands as well increasing the length of the
‘snake’. The game is played until
everyone has been tagged and joined the snake.
Emphasis: Tell the students
that as members of the snake it’s important that they communicate in order to
move together. The longer the snake, the
more important the communication.
Sharks and Minnows
This is usually one of the campers’
favorite games. Begin by demarcating a
rectangular playing area with two ‘end zones.’
Chose two students to begin in the center of the area, these are the
sharks, with all of the other students in one of the end zones, these are the
minnows. The object for the sharks is to
tag as many minnows as possible; the object for the minnows is to run across
the area to the other end zone, which is safe, avoiding the sharks touch. Those who are tagged become jelly fish. Jelly fish must stand still, two feet planted
on the ground, but they can also tag minnows that are running by. The more minnows that become jelly fish the
harder it will be for those who remain to get across. Once all of the surviving minnows have made
it down one length of the area, have them wait for your signal to go back. At
the beginning of each run from one side to the other have the sharks begin in
the center and not right near the end zone with the minnows. Emphasis:
Students love to cheat in this game so be sure to have a few volunteers and
student leaders enforcing the sidelines and that those who’ve been tagged admit
it and become jelly fish. Tell the
students at the beginning to be honest or they’ll be removed from the
game. Tell everyone to be aware of
everyone else as they run to prevent getting tripped or tripping someone
else. Be ready as a director for a few
skinned knees during this game, especially if you’re playing on a cement
playground.
Team
Knots
Another great team building game. A challenge not between teams but for each
team for themselves to work out at their own pace. The concept is simple. The team comes together in a tight circle,
shoulder touching shoulder. They put
their hands into the center and grab hands with anyone that is not standing
directly next to them and being sure to hold hands with two different
people. The object is to untie this team
knot so that there is a circle at the end.
It is ok if not everyone is facing the same direction at the end. This will work; the only possible outcome
other than a circle is two circles. Emphasis: As always communication will
be crucial; patience with one’s teammates will also be vitally important. As in any activity where people are linked
together, be sure that nobody is being tugged or pulled. Let the students work this out and encourage
someone to take the lead in helping to solve this challenge.
Slide Tag
Another great game that you can use
multiple times throughout the week if things are getting slow are you are short
on equipment and need to occupy half of your kids to allow the other half to
learn how to play hoops or football or kickball. Have the students break into partners and
spread out. If you are inside on a basketball
court or outside on grass, have the partners lie down, face first, side by
side. If you are going to play on cement
or a rocky field then have the partners stand side by side and link arms. Choose one set of partners and break them
up. One will chase the other playing
tag.
The one being chased has 5 seconds to lie
down next to a set of partners thereby saving herself, the partner on the
opposite side of where the person lied down is now the one being chased and
must jump up and run! If playing the
stand-up version, the person being chased must link arms and the partner on the
opposite side must break arms and run.
Poster Contest
Each team should use art and words on their
poster to show why they believe that it is important to play as a team. Why a team that works well together will
succeed over a team that is made up of individuals playing for themselves. This is a great way to get your students
talking about this idea and forcing them to buy into what this camp is all
about. Ask leading questions and make
sure that everyone’s opinion is being heard.
This will also be a good opportunity for some students, who are not as
athletic but who are creative and artistic, to shine. Remind the students that they must also think
about how they will present what they draw to the rest of the camp.
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