Team building activities for athletes. 20 Engaging Team Building Exercises for Youth Sports: Fostering Unity and Cooperation

How can team building activities enhance youth sports performance. What are effective exercises to promote teamwork in young athletes. Which team building games are suitable for different age groups in sports.

The Importance of Team Building in Youth Sports

Team building is a crucial aspect of youth sports that goes beyond simply honing individual skills. It fosters a sense of unity, cooperation, and mutual support among young athletes. By engaging in team building exercises, players learn to communicate effectively, trust one another, and work towards common goals. These skills not only improve their performance on the field but also contribute to their personal growth and development.

Why is team building so essential in youth sports? Here are some key reasons:

• Enhances communication skills
• Builds trust and camaraderie
• Improves problem-solving abilities
• Promotes leadership qualities
• Boosts team morale and motivation
• Encourages inclusivity and respect for diversity

Fun and Interactive Team Building Games for Young Athletes

Incorporating enjoyable and engaging team building activities into youth sports programs can significantly impact team dynamics. Here are some exciting games that coaches and team leaders can implement:

1. Don’t Wake the Dragon

This game is particularly suitable for younger age groups. The premise is simple yet effective: children must work together silently to line up from tallest to shortest, pretending to be villagers trying not to wake a sleeping dragon. Once they’ve completed the task, they collectively shout “Boo!” to scare off the imaginary dragon. This exercise promotes non-verbal communication, cooperation, and problem-solving skills.

2. Pass the Hula Hoop

In this activity, players form a circle and hold hands. One player starts with a hula hoop over their arm. The objective is to pass the hula hoop around the entire circle without breaking the chain of hands. This game encourages teamwork, coordination, and strategic thinking as players must figure out how to maneuver the hoop over their bodies.

3. Blanket Volleyball

Blanket volleyball is a unique twist on the traditional game that requires intense cooperation. How does it work? Divide the team into two groups, each holding a large sheet. Players must work together to use the sheet to “pop” the ball over the net. This exercise not only promotes teamwork but also enhances communication skills as players must coordinate their movements to be successful.

Team Building Exercises for Different Age Groups

Different age groups may require varying approaches to team building. Here are some age-appropriate activities:

For Younger Children (Ages 5-8)

1. Animal Farm: This activity combines fun with teamwork. Each child receives a card with an animal name and must make the corresponding sound to find their group members. It’s an excellent ice-breaker that encourages interaction and helps shy children feel more comfortable.

2. Toilet Paper Role Game: In this game, children sit in a circle and take turns pulling off as many squares of toilet paper as they wish. For each square they have, they must share an interesting fact about themselves. This activity helps team members get to know each other better in a fun, low-pressure environment.

For Older Children and Teens (Ages 9-16)

1. Human Knot: This classic team building exercise requires problem-solving and physical coordination. Players stand in a circle and grab hands with others across the circle, creating a “human knot.” The group must then work together to untangle themselves without letting go of hands. This game promotes communication, leadership, and creative thinking.

2. Build a Bridge: Divide the team into smaller groups and provide each with materials like popsicle sticks, putty, string, and paper clips. The challenge is to build a bridge that can span a bowl of water and support weight. This activity encourages creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork under time constraints.

Incorporating Physical Activities in Team Building

Team building exercises that involve physical activity can be particularly effective for young athletes. These activities not only promote teamwork but also contribute to physical fitness and skill development. Here are some examples:

1. Tug-of-War

This classic game is an excellent team building exercise that requires players to work together towards a common goal. It promotes unity, strategy, and encourages positive competition. Tug-of-war can be easily adapted for different age groups and team sizes.

2. Wheelbarrow Races

Wheelbarrow races are a fun and challenging activity that pairs up team members. One player walks on their hands while their partner holds their legs, racing against other pairs. This exercise builds trust, coordination, and communication between partners.

3. Relay Races

Various types of relay races can be organized to promote teamwork and physical fitness. These could include traditional running relays, obstacle courses, or creative variations like three-legged races. Relay races encourage players to cheer for their teammates and work together to achieve the best overall team performance.

Team Building Through Shared Experiences

Sometimes, the most effective team building occurs through shared experiences that don’t feel like explicit exercises. These activities can help forge strong bonds between team members in a more relaxed setting:

1. Team Meals

Organizing regular team dinners or picnics can be a great way to bring players together off the field. These casual gatherings allow team members to interact in a different context, fostering deeper connections and understanding among players.

2. Attending Sporting Events

Taking the team to watch a professional or college-level game in their sport can be both educational and fun. It gives players a chance to observe high-level play, discuss strategies, and bond over their shared passion for the sport.

3. Pool Parties

A team pool party can be a refreshing change of pace, especially during hot weather. Activities like relay races, water volleyball, or even simple free play in the pool can help team members relax and enjoy each other’s company in a different environment.

Cognitive Team Building Activities for Young Athletes

While physical activities are important, cognitive exercises can also play a crucial role in team building. These activities challenge players’ minds and encourage collaborative problem-solving:

1. Scavenger Hunts

Organizing a scavenger hunt can be an exciting way to promote teamwork and critical thinking. Divide the team into smaller groups and give them a list of items to find or tasks to complete. This activity encourages strategic planning, communication, and cooperation.

2. Pictionary and Charades

These classic party games can be adapted for team building purposes. They promote non-verbal communication, creativity, and quick thinking. Players must work together to guess the answers, fostering a sense of unity and shared accomplishment.

3. Escape Room Challenges

While not mentioned in the original text, escape room-style challenges have become popular team building activities. These can be set up in a training facility or even virtually. Teams must work together to solve puzzles and “escape” within a set time limit, promoting problem-solving skills and teamwork under pressure.

Measuring the Impact of Team Building Exercises

To ensure that team building activities are effective, it’s important to measure their impact. Here are some ways coaches and team leaders can assess the success of their team building efforts:

• Observe changes in team dynamics during practice and games
• Conduct regular check-ins with players to gather feedback
• Use team performance metrics to track improvements over time
• Encourage players to keep journals about their experiences
• Implement peer evaluations to gauge interpersonal relationships within the team

By consistently evaluating the effectiveness of team building activities, coaches can refine their approach and ensure that these exercises are contributing positively to the team’s growth and performance.

Adapting Team Building Exercises for Virtual Settings

In today’s digital age, it’s important to have team building activities that can be conducted virtually when in-person gatherings are not possible. Here are some ideas for virtual team building:

1. Online Trivia Games

Create sport-specific trivia games that team members can play together online. This not only builds camaraderie but also increases knowledge about their sport.

2. Virtual Scavenger Hunts

Adapt the scavenger hunt concept for a virtual setting. Give players a list of items to find in their homes within a time limit, then share their findings via video call.

3. Online Team Workouts

Conduct team workouts via video conferencing platforms. This helps maintain team unity and fitness levels even when players can’t be together physically.

By incorporating these virtual options, teams can maintain their connection and continue building strong relationships regardless of physical distance.

Team building in youth sports is an ongoing process that requires creativity, patience, and commitment from coaches and players alike. By implementing a variety of engaging activities tailored to the team’s age group and needs, sports programs can foster a strong sense of unity, improve communication, and ultimately enhance performance both on and off the field. Remember, the goal of team building is not just to create better athletes, but to help young people develop valuable life skills that will serve them well beyond their sporting careers.

20 Team Building Exercises for Youth Sports

30 Team Building Activities for Sports

4 Team Bonding Activities for Student Athletes

Cohesion, communication, and collaboration aren’t just perks for teams of teen athletes, they’re requisites. Team building activities can help any team work better together.

Whether you’ve got a group of seasoned teens that need a refresher course to revitalize their team spirit or a newly-made team that needs to establish some camaraderie, we’ve got you covered. We’ve put together a list of 4 easy and fun team bonding activities to help teams of teen athletes work together.

1. Duck and Cover

Duck and Cover is a simple, straightforward game that works as a great introductions game for new teams that don’t know each other well yet.

Check out this video for a quick explanation and demonstration!

2. Duct-Tape Skis

This team bonding game is all about using communication in smaller groups. You’ll need some duct tape, objects to move (that will make sense in a second), some buckets/baskets, and (most importantly!) your team.

The rules are simple: split into groups of 8 or more– 10 works best.  Scatter objects between two sides of a basketball court or large room.  Give each group two rolls of duct tape.  Using the duct tape, each group must connect their feet together (ankle and below).

1 or two people from each group will not be connected.  They will be designated “repair people.”  Then as a group, they must move to pick up objects (one at a time) scattered through the field and drop them into buckets (or baskets).  If at any point the duct tape is broken or becomes unlinked, the repair people must run out to find a way to reconnect their group together.

The game is over once all of the objects are retrieved.  One long round or multiple rounds can be played.  Notice the word “team” is never used.  They were split into groups.  The game is only over after all objects are retrieved.  All of the groups could have worked together to harvest the objects and end the game faster, yet they will communicate competitively instead of collaboratively.

Here are a few useful debriefing points to hammer home the lessons from this game to your team:

• What challenges did you overcome?
• How could we have completed this faster?
• Do you think you were in the correct role?
• Who was on your team?

The answers to these can help them realize that thinking as a group is difficult, but that working together, listening, thinking outside of the box, and sharing ideas can solve problems, save time, and make life easier.  We aren’t always in competition and helping one another can be valuable!

3. Slow Motion Tag

Here’s a great group activity that will get your team moving!

Everyone is it.  Every time a whistle blows you must make a step – can be a big step or a small step, its up to you.  If you choose to tag someone they are “frozen” (take a knee).  If a frozen player is tagged they are back in.

• Players will start to form alliances most likely or try and team up
• Players might think that goal was to somehow “win” although it was never stated.

Processing questions:

• Get into groups of three and discuss what were the instructions
  • It was a very simple explanation but there will likely be three different thoughts of what the game was in each group of three
• What was the objective of the game
  • Although no specific objective was named, there will likely be strong feelings of what the purpose of the game was
• What did you “hear” versus what was “explained”
  • Whatever was communicated at the start, everyone defined it a bit differently
• How important is Great Communication?

4. Don’t Touch Me

This is an amazing game for communication because it is all in the way they perceive the directions that were given. Get the group in a circle each standing on a spot or marker of some kind with the partner of their choosing across from them on the other side of the circle.  Place an item in the middle of the circle, I like to use a road cone.  There are only three rules to the game.

1. You must make “contact” with the item in the middle
2. You must switch “positions” with your partner.
3. You must say the phrase “don’t touch me”

The goal is for them to do this in the fastest time possible – give them multiple attempts to better their time.  Make sure that all ideas are heard and then the group decides if it would like to try that idea together, not just one commander in the group telling everyone what to do.

Take away: even though you stress the quoted terms, “Contact” and “Positions” they still perceive that they must run across the circle, touch the item, and change spots with their partner.

• The simple solution is to make eye “contact” with the item in the middle and simply stand like your partner was standing to switch “positions”

A simple processing question could be, “What did you hear me say when I explained this challenges to you?”  You will likely get several answers.   And then follow up with, “How could I have communicated this better to you?”

For more resources similar to team bonding activities for student athletes , check out our Resource Page!

If you’d like to see more of what we do, click to watch the video below and see a small sample of activities we use to make teams work together better.

If you are interested in scheduling a Youth event with us, click here to find out more or contact us at (972) 416-9646. Also remember, if you can’t come to us, we can come to you. Learn more about our Portable Events here.

Team Building Activities for Teenage Athletes

These team building activities are carefully selected to help teenage athletes to develop as a cohesive coordinated team. Out perform your rivals by learning these teamwork skills:

1. communication,
2. leadership,
3. understanding and respecting individual’s roles,
4. knowing each other’s abilities to predict positions and play,
5. trusting and depending on each other
6. morale and motivation.

I have chosen team building activities for teenage athletes that are not just about playing games, but specifically improve key teamwork skills that boost overall team performance as well as individual skill. as part of an outstanding team.

Team Cooperation

One of the key challenges that coaches face in training teenage athletes for teams is to get the players to work together. In young children, you will always see every child following the ball around a sports pitch all trying to get it themselves. By the time they are teens, they are beginning to learn that by spreading out and passing the ball around they have a better chance of winning.Understanding and sticking to a particular role on the athletics team will also help teens to be better at working together as a team.

Sports Team building games that develop cooperation

Human pyramids

Teenagers seem to love the physical element of this is they are good friends. How high can you build a human pyramid or tower?

Egg Toss

How far can you throw a raw egg to your fellow teen so that they can successfully catch it?

The levitating Stick

This team building activity involves the team getting into two rows facing each other. Everyone holds out their index finger and you place a lightweight cane or stick so that it rests on everyone’s fingers. The team then have to lower the stick to the ground whilst keeping their fingers in contact with the stick.

What happens is that someone will usually apply more pressure on the stick and it will go up a bit. Someone else realises that their finger is not longer touching the stick so they raise their finger. The stick then ends up magically levitating up into the air as everyone lifts their fingers.

It takes coordination to get the stick to the ground.

Trust and Prediction

Getting to know what your team mates will do in a situation is vital to winning and outperforming your opposition. Teen athletes have to be given some special team exercises that encourage them to learn each others strengths, abilities and behaviours. By doing so, teens can then begin to trust one another, and know how thir team mates will respond to situations.

Knowing how other teen athletes perform on the team enables players to pass the ball into space knowing that their team mate can run fast enough to get there and know that they will be expected to find that space.

Teen athlete team building trust exercises

The Wall

Find an assault course that has a ten foot wall in it. The team has to get everyone over the wall. It takes planning, as the strongest person who can lift the other up onto the wall may not be the best person that everyone else has to then pull up the wall.

Electric Fence

This is one of the most popular trust building activities for youth groups. Set up a fence made of rope with large squares. This can either be ready made or you can use several pieces of rope to make a spider’s web sort of arrangement. The team then have to get every teen through the electric fence without touching the ropes. Lots of trust required.

Canoe catamaran trust

Using two canoes, balance beams between them and the team leader sits on the beam. Teams then canoe a course around the lake.

Getting teen athletes to communicate with their team

Teens are very good at keeping their intentions to themselves. Oh yes they post everything on social media, but when it comes to being on the playing field, teachers have to really encourage them to tell each other how to work together during a game or competition.

Shouting out and calling for a ball, or giving directions will help teens to improve. These team building activities give teen athletes the opportunity to try out new skills by improving their communication techniques and understanding just how important to success communication is.

Communication team building activities for teen athletes

Crate Stacking

You need proper climbing gear for crate stacking. Rig a safety line and pulley high above the place where you will be stacking your crates. The stacker has to stack the crates into a tower as tall as they can, whilst balancing on the top. They need to wear a climbing harness, and helmet, with someone belaying them from the ground.

The team have to pass the crates up to the stacker. Takes guts and teamwork.

Sailing

One way to get the team to work together is to send them on a sailing day. The skipper will teach them how to work as a crew, and they will not only learn how to work together, but also learn a new skill.

Get the Canister from Toxic Area

This is a popular team building challenge. Set up a can inside a taped off area. Give the team some equipment to retrieve the can without touching the ground inside the area. One variation I have done is to attach an ammo box up a tall tree containing supper for the team. They have to use climbing gear to climb up the tree, retrieve the box and return without dropping it inside the area. Inside the box can be anything you want that they can cook over an open fire. We had two chickens in ours. We plucked and prepared them while others in the team made the fire. Lovely.

If you aren’t that adventurous, you can just put sweets in the can.

Motivating teen athletes through team building activities

To make it easier to motivate teams to win and concentrate on improving, the hypothesis used to be that teens should learn about what they did wrong when they failed or lost. Research has shown that teams dramatically improve their morale and winning chances by actually focussing on what they did well and expanding on it. Scientists had athletes watch replays of every game where they performed well, and compared their season’s results with teams who tried to learn from their mistakes. The positive focussed teams significantly outperformed their rivals throughout the season.

So, to boost teen athletes morale, you need to run some challenging team building activities for teenage athletes where they are likely to succeed by working together. You will have to show them at first how to succeed, but once they get it, their morale will begin to lift and you can start increasing the level of challenge. You will be quite pleasantly surprised by the positive outcomes from all of the teens. Smiles all round and high fives.

Morale boosting team building activities for teen athletes

Balance on a brick

How many people can balance on a brick at once? You can use any surface to hand, such as a milk crate. Or how many teens can you get in a phone box or in a car.

Target Practice

Use any projectile to hit a target. Water, paint or flour bombs are the best. The team has to build their contraption for launching their ammo. See which team can fire it the furthest, or get closest to a target. You can also have a battle firing at each other. Eye protection is advised. Get building those trebuchets, catapults, water bombs slings and ballistas.

Parachute Games

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Take one large parachute and get your teen athletes to use it to flip a ball as far as they can. Coordination and communication is key. You can also use two parachutes to pass the ball back and forth.  As a coach, observe carefully how the team communicate with each other to coordinate their moves.  Does a leader emerge who encourages and directs  rest of the team?  Does the team develop an intuition to read each other?

Alternatively, you can buy [amazon_textlink asin=’B079DNVKF8′ text=’strength training parachutes’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’activoutdo-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’19eaa9e2-4d7f-47f3-9f8f-a045be104b37′] for athletes.  These are attached to you by a belt and creates resistance when running.   They are perfect for team building relay games.

More team building activities for teens

Team building activities for teens.

Physical team building activities

Team Bonding Activities

Two Easy Team Building Activities to Develop Team Chemistry

Not everyone can bring in a facilitator to lead their group through a full or half day of activities and insights to improve team communication and cohesiveness.

As a high school coach, I eventually realized that team culture was far more impactful than the X’s and O’s. And it was my frustration with not being able to find an affordable event facilitator to work with my team that eventually led to my own interest in becoming a team building speaker.

While I very much enjoy working with corporate groups and university athletic programs, I do realize that there are hundreds of coaches who are searching, just like I was, for easy team building activities that can be used to develop team chemistry.

And, if you are working with a young group of athletes in a youth league or as part of a high school program that you want to inspire to work better together, I would like to suggest two other fun activities that may be helpful.

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Activity #1 – Paired Teammate Interviews

First, let me emphasize the importance of paired teammate interviews.

Have your people pair up and interview each other asking questions that provide opportunities for everyone in your group to share information about themselves. An evening of teammate interviews and sharing responses can be a fun and influential time together.

The more your teammates know about each other, the more they will care for and understand the why behind teammate behaviors – and if they feel their teammates care about them, they are more willing to be held accountable for their efforts and contributions.

Some of your group may be very familiar and already have strong connections – but it is the new connections and creation of new bonds you want to focus on.

Instead of allowing them to pair up according to their own comfortable existing relationships, take the time to pair up your team so that the individuals who NEED to know each other better and create a stronger bond have the chance to talk and share information.

Give each person a pen and a piece of paper with 5-6 questions they will ask their partner.

Give the pairs about 15 minutes to interview each other, and then have them share the funniest answers when they come back together as a group.

Some fun questions you can include on their papers are:

• What exciting thing would you like to do that you haven’t yet?

• What cartoon character are you most like, and why?

• If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

• If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

• When you were younger, who was your favorite super hero, and why?

• Complete this sentence: “I wish I could be more. . . ”

• What’s your favorite thing to do in the summertime?

• What do you like most about where you live? What do you like least?

• What was your favorite book as a child?

• Have you ever cried while watching a movie? If so, what movie?

• What’s the best holiday memory you have?

• What’s been the best day of your life so far?

• What’s your most precious possession?

• What is the one thing you could not imagine living without?

• What is the best advice you ever received?

• What was your favorite toy when you were growing up?

It will take around an hour to have each partner share information from the interview, but it will bring out a lot of laughter, and will open doors for future conversations between your teammates that otherwise would not have occurred.

Activity #2 – Disappearing Chairs

The second easy team building activity is disappearing chairs.

It is less time consuming, but perhaps an even more useful tool to develop team chemistry, and is a powerful illustration of how we need to lean on and support others as teammates.

You will need four armless chairs.

Begin with choosing four participants moving the chairs so that all are touching and facing out in opposite directions in a square. Participants then sit sideways in the chair, facing out in four different directions…

The activity is simple. You can find a short video here to watch.

With the four participants seated, you ask them to lay back into the lap of their teammate. And then you will remove one of the chairs.

This requires the person to be supported by their teammates.

After a moment or two, you then remove a second chair.

Then remove a third chair.

Then remove the last chair, so that all participants are supporting each other.

You can count, and challenge the teammates to remain as they are, supporting each other without chairs, for at least 30 seconds (or even a full minute!).

The key is for them to experience the feeling, and then follow up the initial example by allowing every member of the team to have the same experience.

Finally, the most important part of the team building activity is your debriefing discussion.

Have them sit (or stand) in a circle, and ask your team the following questions:

• Who lasted the longest? Why?

• How is this a great lesson on leadership or teamwork?

• How does it relate to our team goals?

• Who or what are the chairs for our team?

It is the discussion and shared conversation that come after the experience that truly make it a valuable activity – for the intent is to have your group recognize and remember the experience and important of supporting, and being supported by, their teammates.

Obviously, there are hundreds of other team building ideas you could find to develop team chemistry – but the most important part of choosing your activities is the focus on finding ways to have them interact and share information to build stronger bonds, and then to emphasize and have them internalize lessons that will make them more successful (such as learning the significance of supporting others in adversity).

If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to visit my website for more team building resources.

And if ever you need more than a few do-it-yourself ideas, I am available as a team building speaker to inspire your group at a banquet or conference with an interactive message to improve your group’s morale, awareness, and leadership skills.

Lead your team to a successful season. Help your people to enjoy the journey and learn more about themselves and their teammates while teaching things that are more important than just strategy. Focus on developing team chemistry.

What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions. . .

4 Fun Team Building Activities for Young Athletes

For a youth sports team to be successful, all of its players need to trust and support one another. A team with excellent group chemistry becomes a well oiled machine: flawlessly executing plays and anticipating each other’s moves. When young athletes feel like they are part of something larger than themselves, they play at their full potential and encourage their teammates to do the same.

Team building exercises are wonderful ways to foster a sense of unity for young athletes. To help you create a cohesive squad, Rocky Top Sports World has put together a guide to a few of our favorite team building activities.

1. Complete an Obstacle Course

Having your team complete an obstacle course can be a ton of fun! Since your entire group must cross the finish line at the same time, your team will will have to work together to ensure that no one falls behind. It’s not hard to set up a fun obstacle course right at your home field or court.

When you visit the Smoky Mountain area, your team can stop by TopJump Trampoline Park to try and conquer their awesome “ninja course”. Inspired by the sort of courses you might see on American Ninja Warrior, TopJump’s obstacle course is sure to challenge the young athletes on your team.

2. Have a Team Meal

Getting everyone together for a group meal is another great way to bring your team closer together. When teammates are in the middle of practice or playing a game, they don’t always get the chance to talk with one another. Going out for lunch or dinner with the team offers a more social environment where quieter kids can relax and open up.

Teams visiting the Gatlinburg area will find a wide variety of excellent restaurants to enjoy. Whether you’re in the mood for pancakes, pizza, burgers, BBQ, or ice cream, you’re guaranteed to find exactly what you’re looking for in the Smokies. For a complete listing of the area’s most popular places to eat, check out our guide to the Best Restaurants in Gatlinburg.

3. Go Whitewater Rafting

Nothing brings a group of people together quite like a whitewater rafting trip! Rowing in unison as you make your way down the river requires teamwork, and the experience of riding the rapids is something your group will never forget.

The Great Smoky Mountains are home to the beautiful Pigeon River, which is the third most rafted river in the entire nation. Smoky Mountain Outdoors is the biggest and best rafting company on the Pigeon River. No prior experience is necessary to go rafting with Smoky Mountain Outdoors, and both “mild” and “wild” trips are available.

4. Experience a Zipline Adventure

Ziplining is another thrilling team building activity. When you take a canopy tour with your team, you will all be part of of an exhilarating adventure that is unlike anything else you’ve ever experienced. Whizzing through the air at 50 miles per hour is something you’ll talk about with your teammates for months (if not years) after your zipline tour.

The top destination for ziplining in the Smoky Mountains is CLIMB Works. Surrounded by the national park, the zipline course at CLIMB Works offers unparalleled mountain views. When you complete this unique canopy tour, your feet won’t touch the ground for 2.5 hours!

Located in the foothills of Gatlinburg, Rocky Top Sports World is just minutes away from all of the area’s best team building attractions. Our 80 acre athletic complex features six basketball courts, seven fields, 12 volleyball courts, team rooms, an onsite grill, and everything else you need to host an incredible sports tournament. To learn more about everything our sports campus has to offer, visit our Facilities page!

Rethinking the Way Coaches Implement Team Building Activities During COVID-19

Coaching during a pandemic can have many challenges. One example that coaches have most likely experienced during COVID-19 is the opportunity to build team cohesion. With COVID-19 hindering the implementation of in-person team building activities (TBA’s), is there a way to foster team cohesion without all team members being in the same physical location? Now is the time to get creative with how to implement TBA’s and reconsider approaches to building cohesive team environments. 

Common TBA’s, such as in-person team dinners and movie nights, may no longer be a feasible option; however, it is still imperative to build team cohesion as research has demonstrated there is a moderate to strong relationship between cohesion and performance (Filho et al., 2014). Previous literature has also shown that the following factors influence cohesion and performance: task, context, relationships, roles, team norms, personal characteristics, team characteristics, goals, communication, cooperation, coordination, and leadership (Collins & Durand-Bush, 2015). Thus, it is important for TBA’s to target these factors in order to maximize the effectiveness of these activities in improving team cohesion and performance.

To expand on previous literature, a pilot study seeking to understand athletes’ and coaches’ perceptions of team dynamics in regard to what methods are most successful in building team cohesion, coaches and athletes identified the following as variables that are facilitative of effective team cohesion:

• Communicating effectively as a team
• Role clarity and acceptance of their role on the team
• Committing to specific team goals 
• Adopting a mentality that prioritizes team achievements over individual accomplishments

While the coaches in the study identified team dinners, team sleepovers, beach trips, high rope courses, and holiday parties as common strategies to build cohesion, these social functions may not directly improve the factors listed above. For example, if effective communication is a goal that you have set for your team for the season, but a movie night is an activity that is chosen as the TBA (an activity that requires very minimal interaction between teammates), then there is a disconnect between the activity and the factor that you value as important to developing an effective team dynamic. Therefore, it is important for TBA’s to be continued virtually, given the limitations due to COVID-19, and that target the factors identified above.

Suggestions for Team Building Activities

Below, we provide coaches with examples of how to implement TBA’s that directly target the factors listed above and how to continue the traditional TBA’s virtually:

• Goal Setting Sessions
• Communication Practice
  • A common barrier to a positive team environment is conflict, often due to differing personalities within a team. Communication sessions that target active listening, effective confrontation strategies, and understanding the importance of non-verbal communication, may be helpful in mitigating and preventing team conflict. Click here for a resource for virtual team building activities that focus on improving team communication. In addition, it is important for coaches to remind their team to turn on their camera and their microphone so they can all engage in the discussion. By everyone turning on their camera, non-verbal communication can be assessed and used as part of the session.
• Role Clarity and Acceptance
  • Coaches can virtually set up individual sessions with their athletes to clarify each player’s role(s) within the team so that role ambiguity and confusion are avoided. At the conclusion of the individual sessions, a team session can be held to educate the team, as a whole, on the importance of role clarity and acceptance. This can help teammates understand how their role affects and is affected by others, ultimately with the hope of the athletes learning how to better support their teammates. Click here for a resource that explains the importance of role clarity and acceptance.
• Team Dinners via Video Call
  • Even though you might be unable to meet up as a team at someone’s house or at your favorite restaurant, having a team dinner via video call can be a great way to spend time getting to know each other. 
• Book Club
  • Choosing a book to read as a team and setting up regular book club meetings can allow for athletes and coaches to express their thoughts on a certain topic, which can be a fun way of getting to know your team. If the book is sport-related or pertains to a particular mental skill, then the team can discuss how they can translate lessons from the book to their sport. Click here for sport-related book suggestions. 
• Virtual Game Nights
  • There are many different apps and websites that provide games that can be played virtually. Setting up a video call with your team and playing games or answering trivia together can be great for getting competitive with your team and building cohesion outside of your sport. 

These suggestions serve as a guide on how to navigate building team cohesion in this unprecedented time, and how to improve the traditional TBA’s to be more effective by actually targeting factors that influence cohesion. Although COVID-19 has changed the way that we interact with others, it should not stop sports teams from connecting and working toward building a cohesive unit.
 
References 

Collins, J., & Durand-Bush, N. (2015). Frameworks of team processes in sport: A critical review with implications for practitioners. International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 3(3), 46-49. 

Filho, E., Dobersek, U., Gershgoren, L., Becker, B., & Tenenbaum, G. (2014). The cohesion-performance relationship in sport: A 10-year retrospective meta-analysis. Sport Sciences for Health, 10, 165–177.

Sports team building – DoctorTeam agency

Sports team building is a sports team adventure aimed at uniting the company’s team. Sports team building has many benefits.

• Firstly, in the conditions of a sedentary office lifestyle, sports exercises perfectly raise the physiological tone of the body;
• Secondly – team play (and most active teambuildings involve team rivalry) gives a powerful unifying effect;
• Thirdly, active team building is a great way to lift the participants’ spirits.

More programs

Sports Team Building is not just about football or paintball. There are a lot of opportunities on how to conduct teambuilding sports events. These are obstacle courses, crossbow shooting, and water relay races.

There are a lot of agencies and private organizers on the market that offer turnkey sports team building organizations . Your choice should be based on various factors.But certain conclusions are still worth making for yourself in advance. For example, agreeing on an approximate budget with colleagues or management, as well as understanding the format of the event. Suppose your company has a developed culture of corporate sports, and there are already well-established traditions of active team building. Be sure to take into account the traditions of corporate recreation when conducting sports team building, even if you decide to try something fundamentally new.

I want more than

When choosing an agency for a team building and sporting event, pay attention to the company’s portfolio, photos or videos.You can even request this information from the contractor and you are unlikely to be refused. When organizing active team building, agents, as a rule, take over all the organizational issues. Most agencies set a budget for a range of services and the cost of sports team building depends on the number of activities that you prefer. You should pay attention to companies that have their own base of props, musical equipment and attractions – this way you are less likely to run into “newbies”.

Now the market is oversaturated, and you can also demand a qualified consultation by phone and a detailed proposal with an original concept. If the agent insists that the original concept and script are a separate fee, feel free to look for another sports team building company . An important aspect in the preparation of active team building is the age and athletic training of the participants. After all, the age cut of the intended audience can be very wide.Your agent should take this into account and prepare a program of team building and sports activities suitable for all ages, not only according to the interest, but also according to the capabilities of the participants.

Any active team building has a certain structure – analysis into teams, competition, rewarding. It is important not to forget about the technical equipment and the correctly selected site – security, logistics, technological facilities, personnel for coordination, meetings.

Children can be present at sports team building – and this is absolutely no problem. You can turn a corporate sports event into real family relay races where parents and their children are involved.

We are ready to answer all your questions by e-mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or by phone +7 (499) 340-82-32.

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Team building games Office sports championship, team building

CONCEPT of a team building game program

“Championship in” office “sports” – game training for team building, a competition program in fictitious “office sports”, aimed at emotional relaxation and relaxation with friends and colleagues.

The chances of winning against all participants are equal, but participation is more important than victory! Here you can do what you can’t, but sometimes you would like to – shout and throw, tear and shoot, destroy hateful office equipment and much, much more.

This fun team program is a radical way to relieve stress, “let off steam”, an opportunity to laugh heartily, an unexpected look at familiar things, positive emotional team building. Due to some specific tasks, the program is especially popular among representatives of IT companies 🙂

PROGRAM STROKE

CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM

The “championship” program includes funny “office” sports or group games.

Examples of game tasks – competitions:

• “Sea darts” – a hybrid of dart games and “sea battle”
• “Get out!” – high-speed cleaning of the territory from colorful balls with brooms, brooms and mops
• “Stop typing!” – throwing computer keyboards at a distance, followed by high-speed extraction of keys using a hammer
• “Mouse baseball” – in the role of a baseball – computer mouse
• “Take care of your eyes!” – shooting from slingshots at monitors
• “Flaw” – high-speed destruction of documents
• “Business is a pipe” – escape from the “office” through a huge “pipe”
• “Mega-volleyball” – a game of “volleyball” with a huge tent and a huge ball
• “Repeat louder!” – competition for the loudest and longest scream
• “Samokating” – competition rides on scooters
• “Strong eggs” – throwing and catching chicken eggs
• “Paper Aviation” – competition of aircraft design bureaus
• “Office golf” – mini golf in difficult conditions
• “Disregard” – hitting targets from a tube using paper balls
• “Fitness races” – relay race on inflatable fitness balls
• “Robin Hood” – safe archery shooting range – a real bow, but arrows with suction cups
• “Formula – 1-2-3” – racing on office chairs

If this is not enough, then additionally …

• High-speed rolling of winter and summer tires
• Rolling and throwing bottles to the cooler
• Create a boss portrait on a flipchart
• Extraction of “snow” with the help of hole punches and “blizzard” from invoices
• Running of couriers with obstacles
• The “Dress code” task with dressing up negligent employees as Santa Claus for the New Year, as a Soldier for February 23, etc.d.
• Composition of a turnip or ode in honor of the Company
• Spy selection of keys to bedside tables
• Throwing eggs at a target with a picture …
• Radio Controlled Gadgets Competition
• Construction of pyramids from printed products

and that’s not all …

Features

• Team participation, team size 12-18 people
• Rivalry between teams, emphasis on communication and collaboration within the team
• Duration 1.5 – 3 hours
• The number of participants is not limited
• Carrying out outdoors or indoors
• “Office” entourage
• Each team is accompanied by an instructor-animator, who is also a judge at stages
• Fun dynamic stages
• Rewarding teams – “super-medals” in the form of engraved metal plates or cups
• Rewarding of participants – pennants or playful certificates “master of office sports”

Supplements

• Thematic, entourage scenarios, addition to the business program, etc.d.
• Test drive of electric scooters, gyrocycles
• “HOOKEY ROOM”

• BOARD GAMES

Winter version of the program

“New Year’s Championship of Office Sports”

Where to host the event:

More playgrounds …

SPECIAL CHAMPIONSHIP STAGES

• “Zorbing Relay” – competition with rolling of huge transparent spheres.

• “SEGWEY-RALLY” – competition on two-wheeled electric scooters with a gyroscope.

• “Samokating” – an obstacle course on a scooter.

• Not a virtual game “Angry Birds” – shooting birds at pigs using a huge slingshot.

RESULTS AND AWARDS

For a win, loss or draw at a stage, the team receives pushpins of different colors, which ultimately form the “prize table”.

The teams that take the first places will receive huge funny engraved plate medals or other prizes as agreed with the Customer.

All participants of the game team building program receive pennants or comic certificates “Master of Sports in office sports”.

Organization of a game team building program

Examples of the organization and behavior of the game team building program

“Championship of office sports”:

Copyright:
Event Consulting Service (LLC “Event Consulting Service”) guarantees that the concept and scenario (program) of the event were created by the employees of the Event Consulting Service.Event Consulting Service is the sole author of this document. When creating the concept and script, copyright or other rights of third parties were not violated. The concept and script are intellectual property and cannot be used in whole or in part without written approval.

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90,000 Active sports team building – Outdoor team building company

Active sports teambuilding – Company for organizing teambuilding in nature Company for organizing active sports teambuilding

Water Race

1

Rally and triumph by hardening your character together

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River alloys

2

Pass the test together – steal the elements

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Archery
games

3

Focus and Responsibility – Build Team Spirit

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Sports
escape rooms

4

Making decisions together – win with strategy

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Sports
Mix

5

Combining elements can make team building even more fun

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Organization and conduct of corporate outdoor active sports teambuilding in nature

Testimonials from team building participants

Adrenaline rush!

Elena Vishnyakova

Head of Department at JSC RusHydro

Best Team Building EVER!

Oleg Zuev

Advertising expert OJSC “Business car”

Professional organization!

Firsov Andrey

Coach-Honored Coach of Russia in rowing

A sea of ​​emotions!

Dmitry Ass

General Director Renaissance Engineering

Videos

Off-site active sports team building in the Moscow region on the water by the river

Active team building team

Creative department

Victor

Creative Director

Vasily

Technical Director

Oleg

Director, screenwriter

Alexander

Implementation of projects

Ekaterina

Art director

Sergey

Head

Sports department

Michael

Responsible for Direction Dragons

European and World Champion in Dragon Boat Rowing

Sergey

Sports Director

ZMS, two-time World Champion

Rudolph

Responsible for the direction Orienteering

MC, winner of international competitions, judge of the highest category

Anna

Senior organizer

MSMK

Ilya

Responsible for Direction Archery

MSMK, European Champion in classic bow

Vladimir

Senior in the direction of the kayak

Participant of two Olympic Games, bronze medalist of the European and World Championships MSMK

Alexey

Responsible for the direction Triathlon

Graduate of the Institute of Physical Culture, MS in Skiing

Vladimir

Senior judge of the competition

MSMK

Anna

Senior in team sports

MSMK

80% of Fortune 500 Companies regularly organize and conduct corporate team building for their employees

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90,000 Team building: concept, essence and purpose

What is it?

The concept “team building” is heard by every working person, but if you start asking questions, then many will limit themselves only to the definition – “the pastime of the working team in an informal setting.”And they will be right, but only partially. In this article we will look at what teambuilding really is, who needs it and why, and whether it makes any sense.

Wikipedia defines this concept as: teambuilding , or teambuilding is a term commonly used in a business context and applied to a wide range of activities to create and improve teamwork. Simply put, team building is a set of active events aimed at team building and the formation of skills in solving common problems in a team.

As we can see, the understanding of the concept of “team building” for most people is not so much wrong as they understand it as strengthening ties between a group of employees. However, there are significant differences between the “group of employees” and the “team”, identified by researchers Tuckman and Jensen back in 1977.

Table 1 – The difference between the team and the group

Therefore, you should not confuse teambuilding with a New Year’s corporate party.Team building always presupposes certain goals, for example:

1. Formation of teamwork skills: implementation of a command management system, structuring the actions of team members.

2. Formation of team spirit: development of psychological ties between team members, unity in achieving common goals.

3. Directly forming the team: the allocation of roles and their performers, optimization of the team structure.

Feasibility

Why is this necessary?

Man was and remains the main resource of any business. It is the task of every manager to use this resource as efficiently as possible. But man is a complex system. Not only does he build two whole lines of relationships in the workplace: work and personal, but also a lot of extraneous factors that have nothing to do with his intellectual capabilities affect his activities.If an employee does not have oratorical talent, if he has at least seven inches in his forehead, there will be little sense from his public speeches.

The leader, as a team builder, must consider the capabilities and potential of everyone, and in order to find an individual approach and find out who is who , there is team building. For employees, this is 90,021 ways to define their place in the team, show personal qualities and get to know their colleagues better . It is always easier to ask a question to Masha, who bakes delicious cakes, than to Maria Ivanovna, the head of the personnel department.

Who needs it?

It does not matter what kind of business the company conducts, well-coordinated work of the team is the main engine in achieving the ultimate goals of the enterprise. Which companies need team building? Everyone who has this engine junk, and everyone who wants to prevent it.

What is it like?

Team building is rarely classified, but it is still possible to divide all target activities into several groups:

1.Extreme. Usually associated with extreme sports and often carries some risk to health or life. This group of activities gives almost instant results and the deepest sense of unity.

2. Intelligent. Ethnic, quests, reality shows, role-playing events and everything that you have enough imagination for. The main criterion is mental work and the presence of ingenuity. A great way for members to reveal hidden talents and potential.

3. Creative. This group is not as common as extreme team building, however, it addresses issues such as building relationships in a team based on taste preferences and deep emotional cohesion. Unlike the extreme group, the effect is not achieved so quickly, but, with regular activities, it is more durable and long-lasting.

4. Software. This group began to form about ten years ago, when automated HRM systems appeared to help HR services.The software in this category allows you to quickly and efficiently build teams. Unlike all other groups, the use of such programs can significantly reduce the costs and time of these activities.

How does it work?

One of the key points is the selection of team members. There are many selection parameters: from psychological to professional compatibility. All criteria must be taken into account.In practice, this is not so easy, and, in truth, the manager does not always know his subordinates well enough to adequately assess their compatibility. Other specialists or HR automation systems usually come to the rescue. Both of them use the same methods in their assessment, but machine calculations, as practice shows, are more accurate. One of such HRM systems is the 1C: Personnel Assessment program, which allows automating not only the personnel assessment process, but also the formation of effective teams, while increasing the efficiency of personnel services and the company as a whole.In addition, computer programs are able to accumulate information from many tests passed, which makes the results more reliable.

Such measures are primarily aimed at releasing the personality in all its manifestations from the “gray jacket with a job”. Getting into unusual conditions and performing dangerous, and sometimes just stupid tasks, a person relaxes, his own “I” floats out. It is at such moments that we can observe the arrogant Ivan Ivanovich, hanging on the ropeway belay.Seeing this, we can say with confidence that in work at a crucial moment, Ivan Ivanovich will behave in the same way, only he will not hang above the ground.

To identify such manifestations of character, it is best to pull a person out of their usual environment, where he has a familiar place, a familiar schedule and a mask on his face “for all occasions.” Such an environment creates the most favorable conditions for rapprochement, and as a result, Petrov Petya, whom Ivanov usually did not take seriously, drags the poor fellow back to the attraction and patiently helps him to go to the end.

As an example, consider the selection of team members in the 1C: Personnel Assessment program. It offers a command design mechanism. The leader enters the parameters of the future team into the system (Figure 1), and the program, based on the tests previously passed by the employees, forms possible teams, indicating the composition balance index (Figure 2).

Figure 1 – Command Design

Figure 2 – Command Design

The system analyzes the selected composition according to the methods of R.Belbina, T. Yu. Bazarova, D. Keirsey. As a result of the assessment of the team on the Belbin test, a diagram of team roles is built (Figure 3).

Figure 3 – Diagram of Team Roles

By forming teams in this way, the leader has the opportunity to choose the composition that is most beneficial for the work, as well as to determine the strengths and weaknesses, based on the built maps.

The example shows that the balance index of the selected team is not high, only 51 out of 100.The roles of “evaluator” and “resource explorer” are practically inactive, which is not very good, since the team is effective only when all roles are performed equally.

By building a team without such an assessment, we waste invaluable resources: time and money. The efficiency of the work of the “right” team, according to various estimates, is 25% –75% higher than that of the “wrong” one. To some extent, programs such as “1C: Personnel Assessment” are indispensable in the selection of the “right” team, since they significantly reduce the time for its selection and reduce the risk of forming a team with a low balance coefficient.

Who organizes?

Organization of team-building events is a responsible business, since the result directly depends on it. Typically, specialized agencies carry out this task. As practice shows, agencies employ psychologists, sports coaches, and presenters. Each of them is responsible for the mental and physical condition of people during and after trainings. Such a meeting of specialists allows you to build just such a program of events that will suit a particular organization.

Most often, teambuilding is carried out on the road. For this, both the nearest recreation center and another city are suitable. Wherever the team goes, the following things should be kept in mind:

• entertainment should not be exhausting;
• people should not go hungry;
• a place for rest should be equipped;
• organizers must be prepared for any whims of the weather;
• participants should have freedom of choice in everything;
• Business time is an hour of fun, that is, after the trainings, rest should follow.

We must not allow someone to bring back a negative from the holiday. And those who refuse to participate, it is better to just leave alone.

Pitfalls

According to the assurances of psychologists, in some cases, team building can have an extremely negative effect on the atmosphere in the team, no matter how strange it may sound. We should never forget that we are all individuals: someone feels comfortable being part of a team, and someone is a single player.

Consider an example from the world of sports.Football fans know that every player on the field is obliged to do the work entrusted to him, and not to run back and forth across the field, trying to be in time everywhere. Schemes, combinations, strategies work here – their own difficulties, but that is why a team can simultaneously defend its own goal and attack the opponent’s goal, and in case of loss of a player, redistribute responsibilities.

Singles tennis is another matter. The player single-handedly performs the functions of a team, assumes all responsibility: both defeat and laurels.

In addition, there is a third type – athletes who do not enter open competitions. Their result is their own achievement, independent of the strength of the opponent. They are on their own, and trying to make them a team player is not only useless, but also destructive.

Of course, all these distinctions are conditional, you can argue and philosophize for a long time, but the main thing is to grasp the essence. Of the known cases, there is one very indicative. At a party in honor of some holiday, the usually quiet and modest employee, who is tired of being forced to take part in competitions, turned off the lights in the building.The holiday has curtailed by itself. Of course, the incident did not leave positive impressions.

Therefore, it should be remembered that a team can only be created when the members really want it. Forget the good old-fashioned “voluntary-compulsory”. Only voluntarily.

Results

What will be the results?

It is a mistake to think that after the first departure, labor productivity will increase several times. Miracles do not happen, whatever one may say, and this will take patience.The result is provided by the team, and team building is aimed at its formation. And since the team style of work requires trust and mutual understanding between people, then its implementation will take some time. Between old friends, such a connection can arise immediately, such a possibility is not excluded, while for employees unfamiliar with each other, it will be necessary to arrange team-building trainings over and over again.

However, the result is worth the effort. Experts note that business profitability increases by 20-60%.Employees acquire such qualities as the ability to develop rapidly, share experience, quickly respond to changes in the business environment, apply the accumulated experience in new conditions, and patriotic feelings for the company appear. Also on the positive side, it should be noted a decrease in staff turnover and a strengthening of the company’s image.

Outlook

The history of team building can be viewed since the times of the USSR (October, pioneers, party members, parades, matinees, cult hikes, agricultural work).All this has passed and is still remembered. In those days, the team style of work was introduced nationwide and the mistake was that they did not ask anyone if he wanted it or not. And the “Japanese miracle” did not happen in the USSR, and people did not become loyal to their work as a second family.

One of the perspectives of team building is to develop a warm sense of attachment to work in employees. An employee who is loyal to his work and not a burden to come to work, who likes what he does, likes the team in which he works – this is the direction that should be followed.

The development of the attitude “work – positive emotions” requires a completely different approach than the usual activities. The team spirit is developed during confrontation, affection, as in a mirror, in response to benevolence. Gifts for employees, group meals, creative circles (so what if we are not at school ?!), board games and much more. As a result of such actions, the concepts of “leisure” and “work”, “friends” and “team” are confused. Which employee do you think works more efficiently: always tired and waiting for the end of the working day, or cheerful and full of enthusiasm?

This perspective is focused on preparing a stable foundation for team building that provides psychological integrity and harmony.

Team building is unambiguously popular, but it also has a number of opponents who consider it a waste of money, a “dummy”. Usually these are leaders who build working relationships in a team, relying on the professionalism of employees and solving real business problems. Their arguments are well-reasoned. But then what about the fact that team building gives visible results in many enterprises? The fact is that supporters and opponents of team building have the same goal, but the methods are different.Or we teach playfully, or straight into the pool with our heads.

Another perspective is the use of special software (software) when forming commands, for example, such as “1C: Personnel Assessment”. Despite the fact that the value of a strong team is recognized in the business community, managers do not always resort to using complex methods when building a team. But in vain. Team building by itself cannot give a result if the team is incompatible in terms of professional or psychological qualities.

EFSOL

System integration. Consulting

Sports team building – Event-agency “KOMANDANTE”

Types of programs

Sports team building events are divided seasonally into three main categories – summer, winter and all-season programs.

Summer Team Building

In summer, in hot weather, company employees often prefer to spend time near natural or artificial water bodies. Therefore, the corporate regatta and Rafting team programs are in great demand.

In the first of them, the team is divided into crews of 4-5 people, who, under the guidance of skippers on sports yachts, compete in passing the distance marked with buoys for a while. Usually races are held on the territory of the Klyazminskoye reservoir in the Moscow region.

The second is more extreme, connected with kayaking on the river and overcoming rapids. Here the equipment is more serious, the physical activity is greater, the risk of injury is higher, the conditions are tougher. The participants will not be able to leave the race and ask to rest in the shade of the trees ashore – the entire route must be covered.

For those employees who prefer a more measured format of recreation, a game of mini-golf will be an excellent option, which our instructors will help to master. Traditionally, golf is considered a privileged sport, available mainly to aristocrats and stars.And when else will there be an opportunity to test yourself on the emerald lawn, if not during corporate team building ?! Either the event will be held in a golf club with stationary paths, we have one site in Moscow and one in the Moscow region, or we will make an out-of-the-box format of a sports corporate party in nature with the delivery of everything you need to anywhere.

Do not forget about corporate paintball, where your employees will throw out their emotions, run in plenty, get a positive charge and establish team interactions.For a large number of participants, the game is played alternately: two teams participate, the rest are resting, gaining strength, drinking some water. Paintball, or its alternative – laser tag, can be included in one of the sports competitions in the 9th company military team building outdoors. In it, participants go through military training in light mode, including throwing grenades, disassembling Kalashnikov assault rifles, running in gas masks, pulling a rope, jumping in bags. The paintball tournament will be an excellent sports addition to this program.

90,000 classification, best ideas and concepts

Teambuilding is a buzzword, and relatively new, so there is not much information about it yet. We have already written about what teambuilding is, why it is needed and what are the features of its organization in article “Organization of teambuilding” , and now we will focus on the types of teambuilding.

Team building classification

When choosing a team building in Moscow or trying to answer the question of how it is better suited for your goals and how it differs from the same team building training, the classification of teambuildings will help you.

Teambuildings are divided into:

• Extreme.
• Intelligent.
• Creative.

Extreme sports are based on extreme sports that the team goes to do. The intellectual ones include ethnic events, quests, reality shows, etc. Creative ones are devoted to theater, music, dance, photography, cinema, cooking and other activities related to any kind of creativity.

Extreme Team Buildings

There is a huge group of team building activities associated with extreme sports – i.e. with a risk to health or life. These are outdoor activities (outside the office) of the Extreme & Adventure direction, which are mainly associated with overcoming the difficult conditions of the natural environment. Varieties:

• Adventure racing. This is a training for team building with the passage of distances according to distributed tasks in the format of a multisport race in teams.The race lasts 2-10 hours, during which the participants demonstrate their strength in several disciplines: orienteering, mountain biking, rope climbing, intellectual tasks. If you order such a team building in Moscow, the organizers will first diagnose the team, then select the best scenario.
• Mountain climbing (Mountaineering, light version – trekking). Requires team preparation and is the most risky. Usually they choose trekking – passing routes through picturesque natural landscapes, mountainous or flat.
• Mountain bike route . The variety of mountain bikes is wide, but the simplest models are used for corporate teambuilding.
• Rafting . Rafting on mountain rivers on a kayak, catamaran, raft or other rafting boat. The peculiarity of this choice is that there are suitable rivers only in certain areas that still need to be reached. The Siberian and Altai rivers, as well as some African and Nepalese rivers, are considered a good choice for corporate rafting.
• Rowing and canoeing (Canoe / Kayaking) is a very popular choice for team building. This active rowing type of recreation is divided according to difficulty levels: level 1 and 2 – on quiet lakes, 3 and 4 – in more difficult conditions, which are suitable only for close-knit and prepared teams.
• Equestrian sport (Horsing) – horse riding competition. It requires preparation, since equestrian sport is traumatic, but it is gaining popularity as a team building.
• Orienteering (Orienteering / Navigation) is a sport in which participants must, using a map and a compass, pass a certain number of checkpoints. You can hold such a team building in Moscow or go far beyond the borders.
• Climbing (Climbing) is a sport that involves climbing both on natural terrain (rock) and on artificial (climbing wall). There are such types of rock climbing:
  • for difficulty – overcoming the track,
  • for speed – overcoming the track in pairs,
  • individually,
  • in relay format.

“Bouldering” is distinguished as a separate type – overcoming problem tracks.

• Sailing, regatta (Sailing) – competition on boats, ships, as well as sleds, carts, which are driven by sails.
• Alpine skiing and snowboarding (Mountain Skiing / Snowboarding) – promotion on mountain slopes with the help of downhill skis or snowboards. Many corporations have made this kind of team building traditional.
• Diving (Diving) – diving into the sea with scuba diving. Not a team sport, but it can be used in team building for emotional cohesion.
• Caving (Caving), Coastering (Coastering), Canyoning (Canyoning) – extreme sports, innovative in Russia and in the world. They are considered progressive options for team building, contain a powerful innovative component, the effect of personal victory, overcoming, achievement.Not available in all areas. In Russia, for example, they are maximally accessible in the area of ​​Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana. Caving is orienteering in caves, coastering is running and walking along the seashore or ocean, canyoning is overcoming mountain canyons using fixed ropes.

Intellectual teambuilding

This includes:

• Ethnic teambuilding – visiting different parts of the world in order to satisfy the need for knowledge, or recreate the atmosphere of an exotic ethnic group.For example, African team building – creating an atmosphere of an old tribe and various activities in the style of African traditions. This can be archery, drawings on clay, participation in a ritual dance. Such teambuildings can be or include a master class or team building training.
• Quest & Urban – a group of team building quests in a city setting. These are orienteering games in the city, photo navigation, competitions, puzzles that require active communication, always evoke vivid emotions and leave excellent photo reports after the event.
• Hand Made Team Building . An event to create something with your own hands. It is based on an introduction to old Russian crafts, participation in the restoration of churches, etc. The events are held in the format of a master class.
• Reality Show is a format that involves the transformation of each participant into the hero of a corporate show. Reality shows based on the stories of The Last Hero, Farms, Behind the Glass are entertaining and intellectual.

Creative Team Buildings

This type of team building is the opposite of the first (extreme), but very effective in team building. Creative teambuilding destroys the persistent, but false, belief that teambuilding is only extreme. This direction is just emerging, but it is actively developing.

This type of team building is excellent for such tasks as building trust, establishing communication, distributing roles in a team, emotional unity, following a common goal, etc.

Creative team building options:

• Theater team building. Gaining team interaction experience in the preparation of a theatrical performance. A corporate theater is organized, where the actors are office employees who stage the performance under the guidance of a professional director.
• Musical team building (folk, jazz, etc.). You can create a musical number, video clip or a whole rock band.
• Dance team building (e.g. tango team building).
• Story team building. A fairly large group of teambuildings based on a storyline – it can be a game, achieving a common creative goal, creating a certain atmosphere. Examples: the game “Desire Machine” (the essence is to collect the parts of the “machine”), “Dream Cities” (the participants create, paint, defend cities), costume team building, sports competition, tournament, etc.
• Historical team building. An event based on a historical plot.
• Military Team Building. Event in a military atmosphere. This includes playing paintball.
• Literary, cinema, photo, culinary teambuilding. Creation of some kind of creation. The result is an artwork, bright pizza, photo gallery, etc.

Atypical Team Buildings

There is a group of teambuildings that are considered the teambuildings of the future – they are not yet widely spread.The author of the aforementioned book, Marina Iskhakova, believes that the future of teambuilding belongs to them.

Some of their types: ecological, social, Hi-tech.

The essence of environmental teambuilding is an environmental action that should bring real social benefits. This is not a “game on a theme”, but a real useful business. Most often it is planting trees, cleaning and ennobling the territory.

Social Teambuilding is a socially beneficial social action, usually aimed at helping disadvantaged groups of society.Action to help orphanages, pensioners, hospitals, residents of big cities and small villages who need something. How does this happen? A corporate team comes to some locality, paints a kindergarten at their own expense, repairs a staircase in a school on their own, holds a holiday for residents, etc.

Hi-tech team building involves the use of technology. It can be an interesting experiment, the creation of a useful product, an IT competition.

The most unusual teambuildings

The imagination and desire of the organizers will allow you to organize an unforgettable event within or outside the listed varieties. For inspiration, we will share examples of the most unusual teambuildings.

Team building in London “Coat for five”

A special coat was sewn for five top managers and given a list of tasks. The team had to complete all tasks despite the psychological pressure of the townspeople and disagreements within the team.Participants could find scissors and cut their coats at any time, but that would be a defeat.

Dialogues in the dark

The project “Dialogues in the Dark”, invented in Germany in 1995 by Andreas Heinecke, has become widespread in Russia. These are trainings in the dark led by blind trainers.

Who is the killer?

In 2013, the Indian office of JCB India Ltd organized an unannounced quest for its employees.During a corporate visit, employees saw a crime scene in the lobby of the hotel and took part in the search for the killer.

Companies that spend their efforts on teambuilding understand why they are doing it: thanks to intensive communication within the team, positiveness and cohesion, interesting projects appear in such companies, the staff is motivated and involved in teamwork.

Sports team building is the best kind of corporate recreation

Every modern person strives to include sports in his life, because doing sports can preserve not only youth, but also maintain health.

These days, which take place in the routine of offices, among computers, this is very important. Leaders who value their employees not only support, but also strongly encourage their desire to go in for sports.

There are even whole traditions of inter-corporate competitions and championships. And the results of this approach are obvious. Sport is good for everyone – every employee and the entire organization.

What is team building

Sports team building involves team building according to certain strategies.

The result of a successful game is the achievement of the tasks set by the whole team. We can say that the main task of team building is to make a cohesive team out of worthy employees, working for the result.

Advantages of sports team building

Thanks to this sport, it will be possible to achieve team cohesion, improve the health of employees, and tone their vital assets.

During the games, unique informal conditions are created that can become a motivation for the psychological liberation of each employee.A large number of companies have already appreciated the advantages of this team sport from the IGROX Adventure Center

Team building is a favorite type of corporate recreation. In addition, relatives and friends of the participants may be invited as spectator support.

Such a spectacle leaves no one indifferent. Any time of the year is good for team building. Different programs may be offered to participants depending on the goals of the company.

Anyone who wants to try this event can choose the best option: one-day classes, all weekend, or office.

Companies with experience in sports team building, note that this is a convenient and very effective way to raise team spirit and make the work team more united. Employees also remain positive.

Anyone who needs a friendly team and a friendly working atmosphere, sports team building is the best way to inspire. An employee who happily goes to work is considered the most successful, efficient and productive.