All-Star Practice Games To Keep It Fun

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Apr 23, 2014
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Hey everyone. I've searched the forum and found a few things, but they're all pretty old posts. So I'm seeing if there is anything else to add.

I'm looking for some fun games that we can play during practice. I'm looking for anything that will have the team work on stunts, tumbling, technique, conditioning, etc. But be a game format.

Basically any game or mini competition that the kids will think is fun, but also has them work on the things us coaches need them to be working on.

The ones I'm familiar with are stunt battles, and Jenga.

Any other ideas, or links to websites or videos would be awesome.

Thanks.

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We're a small gym with just 1 senior and 1 junior team. Senior team is coed.

So around those ages would the best, but I would love to hear about any games that the kids have liked, even if their for the young ones. It may spark an idea and i could modify to make it more age appropriate.

Thanks!!!

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I have high school students and don't do a ton of these because I'm a fan or intrinsic motivators.

However, over summer when we may still be trying to get groups to mesh:

I did a stunt group competition in which those with most hits in a week earned a group outing with some free Skyzone passes.
 
You could also do stunt competitions. Like the group who hits the most gets to lead warmups or if a group hits every stunt all week they get a prize.

I know one time when we were doing tumbling drills my couch said the first person to get all the way across the mat in a perfect handstand without falling would get a free starbucks drink. That was fun and we all worked really hard to perfect out handstand form which helps with other tumbling.

Also if you are ever just looking for something fun to get the mood up ships and sailors was always a big hit when I cheered in middle/high school. It's pretty simple.

Ships-run to the right
Sailors-run to the left
Five Men Pointing-five people in a line pointing
Four Men Eating-four people in a circle eating
Three Men Rowing-three people in a line pretending to row a boat
Captain’s Coming-stand at attention until "at ease" is called
At ease- may relax the "Captain’s coming position and continue to follow other commands
Bunk Beds- first person lays on their back on the floor while second person is over them (bottom partner’s arms hold partner’s ankles in the air)
Man Overboard-one person on hands and knees and the other one has one foot on partner’s back
 
You could also do stunt competitions. Like the group who hits the most gets to lead warmups or if a group hits every stunt all week they get a prize.

I know one time when we were doing tumbling drills my couch said the first person to get all the way across the mat in a perfect handstand without falling would get a free starbucks drink. That was fun and we all worked really hard to perfect out handstand form which helps with other tumbling.

Also if you are ever just looking for something fun to get the mood up ships and sailors was always a big hit when I cheered in middle/high school. It's pretty simple.

Ships-run to the right
Sailors-run to the left
Five Men Pointing-five people in a line pointing
Four Men Eating-four people in a circle eating
Three Men Rowing-three people in a line pretending to row a boat
Captain’s Coming-stand at attention until "at ease" is called
At ease- may relax the "Captain’s coming position and continue to follow other commands
Bunk Beds- first person lays on their back on the floor while second person is over them (bottom partner’s arms hold partner’s ankles in the air)
Man Overboard-one person on hands and knees and the other one has one foot on partner’s back
CP's tiny team plays ships and sailors, and I saw one of our junior teams playing it while waiting for awards today. CP's team also plays sharks and minnows but I think that's more of a little kid game. Sharks try to tag people running across the mat, anyone tagged sits on the ground and helps tag runners until only one person is left to be the new shark.

Sometimes they will run a section, and whoever did the best each time gets to sit down until only one or two is left. Jumps, dance, etc.

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CP's tiny team plays ships and sailors, and I saw one of our junior teams playing it while waiting for awards today. CP's team also plays sharks and minnows but I think that's more of a little kid game. Sharks try to tag people running across the mat, anyone tagged sits on the ground and helps tag runners until only one person is left to be the new shark.

Sometimes they will run a section, and whoever did the best each time gets to sit down until only one or two is left. Jumps, dance, etc.

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I remember sharks and minnows my youth team used to play it all the time! My mom and I were just looking at cheer photos from 15-16 years ago and wondering where all the time has gone! Mini/youth is so much fun!

We did the sit down thing is HS cheer also! Usually with jumps or back handsprings/ standing tucks.
 
CP’s team will play a version of freeze tag where if they are tagged they have to go up in a bridge until they are “unfrozen”.
 
Partner tag:
A.K.A. Elbow Tag
A.K.A. Hook-Up


Players spread around the field in pairs, with their arms hooked. There is an "it" and another player without a partner who is the one chased. The one being chased can hook onto one of the pairs scattered on the field, in which case the second person in that pair becomes the new chased. When a tagging occurs, the roles simply reverse.

Our gym plays it in a circle with the pairs lying on their stomachs and the kids get a real work-out running around. It's also a lot of fun and definitely counts as a team-building activity.
 
Our kids love to play Jockeys and Horses. Everyone has to get in to pairs and decide which one will climb on the others back (who will be the horse and who will be the jockey). The horses stand in a circle and the jockeys have to sit on the floor inside the circle infront of their partner. When the coach yells GO the jockey has to go through the legs of their partner, run all the way around the circle and then jump on their partners back and yell YEEHAH! Last pair to do it are out. There are a few different variations.

We also play the "shape game" with our Rec kids where we call out body positions which they have to do and you are out if you are the last person in a shape or if you do the wrong shape or if you wobble, fall or hop in a balance position. The shapes are - straight, star, stretch, tuck, motorbike, superman, dish, press up, balance, side star, high splits.
 
My team did a points based goal practice. For each stunt and pyramid we had 5 mins to hit the stunt as many times as a team as possible for 100 points with a +10 for each one that was consecutive. After the 5 mins we had 3 mins to go group by group for 50 bonus points per group. Each miss equaled -50 points. I think we had to make it to 1200 points as a team. If we lost the game we had one unit of conditioning to be spread across the team for each point IE if we came 200 points under we had to spread out 200 reps of something across 20 athletes so 10 reps each of a HARD conditioning set. It was really fun! It was really motivating as we were both under a time crunch and also were cheering on our teammates in the bonus rounds. We're trialing it for our youth team soon as well!
 
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