Team Building Exercises?

[ATLien]

I coach a mite (8U) inline team, our roster is 8 players (6 returning 2 new). There has been a rampant bug running through the schools here, as a result we've had a max of 5 players at our first two practices (our first game is 3/2).

I am of the opinion that the concept of being part of a team and being a good team player is one of the most important things to give to these kids, and it will enhance their enjoyment of the game, games, and practices. To that end we gave gave our team a fun name "BOOM!", so whenever one the boys makes a good play or scores a goal our bench and parents erupt with a loud chorus of "BOOM!". The kids and parents love it.

I think it is important as we get our entire team together to accelerate the team building process to make up for the time the boys haven't had together.

Does anybody know any fun team building exercises that are appropriate for this age group?

Does anybody think I'm way off base?

I'll hang up and listen.

 

[nexusrage21]

Honestly, I think it is a great idea.

My team could use a whole lot of team building, so I can see it would be good to get that worked out with kids at that age.

 

[Dolemite]

Bowling then Pizza. Because of their age rent lanes with the inflatable gutters so the ball stays in play. Mix the teams up every so often because there's time in between each person's turn to talk.

 

[MikeD]

Local university and Jr hockey games....always a great time. Local zoo trips, tubing/sledding, Lazer Tag....The great part ishaving a small group to deal with. Its much easier to get 8 togehter than it is 17 or more. They wear their game jerseys and go as a team.

 

[JLHockeyKnight]

I coach a mite (8U) inline team, our roster is 8 players (6 returning 2 new). There has been a rampant bug running through the schools here, as a result we've had a max of 5 players at our first two practices (our first game is 3/2).

I am of the opinion that the concept of being part of a team and being a good team player is one of the most important things to give to these kids, and it will enhance their enjoyment of the game, games, and practices. To that end we gave gave our team a fun name "BOOM!", so whenever one the boys makes a good play or scores a goal our bench and parents erupt with a loud chorus of "BOOM!". The kids and parents love it.

I think it is important as we get our entire team together to accelerate the team building process to make up for the time the boys haven't had together.

Does anybody know any fun team building exercises that are appropriate for this age group?

Does anybody think I'm way off base?

I'll hang up and listen.

Off the ice is just as important as on the ice. Do they play 5 on 5 or 4 on 4? Take them to an AHL game or local game, like mentioned above. Anything that's fun where they're together as a team, that's the number 1 thing.

 

[McNasty]

One of my favorite things that my pee wee coach used to do was he would split up the 12 of us into two teams, one on each side of the red line. And we would play dodgeball on skates. Blue line was the back line and red line was the divider, played for a whole practice at the beginning of the season and would do small games in between for the hell of it. Things like that where there is no pressure and the kids can just have fun. Games like sharks and minnows are good too because the kids have fun but also work on fundamentals.

 

[Doctor Hook]

Just something as informal as a team lunch at somebody's house with plenty of soda, pizza/sandwiches, games (video or otherwise), maybe a DVD of hockey hilites, and minimal adult supervision is enough to give the kids a chance to play and get to know each other off the rink. I remember my youth/high school days and besides the road trips, the team get togethers were another great bonding experience.

 

[ATLien]

Thanks for all your suggestions! We finally had the whole team together, for the first time, Monday. I found this in "Center Ice" magazine (a free SE regional hockey newspaper):

Get the the team together, and have index cards for each player prepared with 4or5 questions on them (Why did you choose your #? Favorite player? favorite thing outside hockey?....). Give each player a card then pair off to ask each other the questions on their card. Bring them all back to the lockerroom to introduce their partner to the team using the answers form the questions.

We're going to do this at our next practice, if we can get everyone there early. Also planning a mid-season cookout for all the parents. We've been consistently lucky in this dept and had great parents for all four seasons that I've been around. Plus there will be street hockey for the boys, as the partent knock back a few and get to know each other.

Thanks again for your suggestions!!

Our first game is tonight. GO BOOM!

 

[Suzuki x 14]

team building is an important part to building a winning team.

I myself coach a ice hockey team here in the east end of Montreal.
Its a Midget 'Espoir' team (all 15 year olds)
Its a league used only in Quebec.

Basically we are a stepping stone for the Midget AAA league (16 year olds combined with the best 15 year olds).

Anyway, seeing as we are a very elite and competitive league we did some team building activities to start the season.

We also did the questionnaire thing with the players, it worked out fine.
Team brunch was another activity we did.
We played flag football and a game of soccer for some competition.

One activity myself and the other coaches tried to organize but didnt get around to doing was a puzzle. You as a coach make a puzzle, the puzzle can be a picture, or a word that best fits ur team.
Lets say the word is Commitment. After you make ur puzzle, you cut up the amount of pieces you need. In our case, we are 5 coaches and 17 players, so we made 23 pieces for the puzzle.

We gave every member of the team one piece. On the back of that piece each player and coach has to write a few line about what they are going to bring to the team.

After everyone is done, 1 by 1 you all piece the puzzle together and have it framed. On one side you have you word "COMMITMENT" and on the other you have what everyone wrote.

If one guy gets out of line and start to slack, you remind him what he wrote down and what he has to bring to the rink.


...my team isnt to great this year, as a matter of fact, we are atrocious, 4-25-6 but we work hard every game. Were 13th place out of 14 teams in our league and 25th out of 29 in the province.
If anyone wants to see, you can visit our website...
http://www.bourassamidgetespoir.com