Tip by Susie Johnson, Crofton HS in Crofton, NE.
Mid-Season Team Building/Pick-Me UP:
Coaching kids can be very entertaining! But midway through the season when everyone is feeling exhausted, teammates can become a little irritable with each other.
For a pick-me up activity get a blank piece of paper for each teammate, manager, and coach. Each teammate will need a pen for the project. Sit in a big circle. Everyone needs to write their name on the paper and pass it to the right. They need to write something positive, appropriate and encouraging about the person whose paper they are writing on.
After one minute they pass the paper to the right and repeat until the papers have gone full circle and they have their own paper again. They should turn their paper over when they get it. I like to collect them and read them to make sure the comments appropriate before the athletes read them.
Since this activity is very time consuming you may want to look at your schedule and pick a practice where it will not impact your game performance. These are keepers! The girls love them and talk about them forever. It keeps positive team relations. I do not do this every year but plan on doing it this year and this time I am going to laminate them for the girls.