The rainy season is hard on teams. Practices get canceled, tournaments get rescheduled, and daylight is limited. This is the perfect time in your season to work on team chemistry. Here are a few exercises that are great to do indoors or on a black top! Some of these may sound silly, but never underestimate how much difference having a little fun as a team can do for the team cohesion progression!
What makes a good teammate? Equipment: Paper and Pencil. Purpose: To create a supportive, safe, team environment. Have the team gather in a circle, assign two players to make a list of characteristics each player wants in a teammate. Each player should answer and share two questions. 1) Why do you play softball? 2) What do you need in a teammate? After everyone has shared, read the list back to the group and consolidate the characteristics that make up a good teammate. Now have the players discuss examples of each characteristic (how they can show their teammates that they possess the characteristics, for ex. High fives, picking players up, no shit talking, and respectful tones).
Human Knot/Circle sit: Equipment: none. Purpose: Teamwork, communication, and leadership. Have the team stand in a small circle. Have each player reach out their RIGHT hand and grab a teammate’s hand. Make sure everyone is holding a person’s hand. Now have everyone reach out their LEFT hand and grab a DIFFERENT teammate’s hand. Make sure no one is holding two hands of the same person. You CAN NOT let go of the hands you are holding during this activity! The goal is to have them untangle themselves and end up in a large circle all holding hands. (Sometimes you’ll have two small circle intertwined, or a figure eight, that’s okay!) Have the team discuss what was helpful in reaching the goal and what wasn’t.
As a second fun activity, have athletes stand in a small circle again chest to back. The circle should be VERY tight. All at once have the athletes sit down. The goal is to sit on the persons lap behind and the circle should hold everyone up.
Team Mission Statement: Equipment: Paper and Pencil. Purpose: create a mission statement. Send the team out to a place where they feel they have privacy (center field maybe). One or two people should be designated note takers to write down thoughts as they arise in this discussion. Have each player share what their goals are for the team this season; they can talk about win/loss records, team cohesion ideals, performance improvements, anything that relates to a successful season. The team’s challenge is to combine everyone’s thoughts and goals to create a solid mission statement that can be said as a team throughout the season. Most teams use it during their pre-game cheers. Here’s an example of a team’s motto from a few years ago: “To inspire, to excel, and to take pride in one another, together we are one” – PHS 2014
2 Truths and a Lie: Equipment: Pencil and paper. Purpose: Learn more about one another. Have each person write two truths and one lie about themselves. Go around the room and have the team figure out what are the truths and the lies. With smaller teams, a point system can be used. If the team does not correctly guess which statement was a lie, the person gets a point.
Link Tag: Equipment: none. Purpose: fun, conditioning, social cohesion. All players find a partner and link elbows with them. These pairs spread out around the playing area.
The facilitator selects one pair and within that pair selects one person to be “it” and the other person to be the “chaser”. The “it” person runs around throughout the pairs. The “it” person can, at any time, link up with any pair. If the link person joins a pair, the person on the pair who the “it” member did not link with must separate from the chain and now be “it”. The other person is then free to join a pair, causing another player to split off and be the new “it”. Game lasts until facilitator says it’s over. It can be helpful for the facilitator to watch carefully and manage potentially confusing situations, specifically when the “it” person thinks they have linked up and the “chaser” thinks they have tagged them just before linking (creating two people who think they are “it”).
Balloon Relay Race: Equipment: Balloons. Purpose: teamwork, fun, social/task cohesion. Team splits into pairs of the same gender. Team must go down, around a cone, and back, twelve times, with a different pair going each time. The two members must side-hug and hold a balloon wedged between them. They may only touch it with their hands if it drops. If it drops, the team must stay where they are until it is wedged back together.
Dizzy Bat: Equipment: bat. Purpose: fun, social cohesion. Split the group into two teams. Set a distance for the race. Give the first runner a bat. Each player must spin around ten times with their head on the top of the bat, while the top of the bat stays on the ground. Once they have completed their ten spins they must race to the designated point and back. Once they are back they must tag the hand of the next player in line. That player must do the same thing until everyone has gone!
One Game, One Love. 