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Quick Tips: 5 More Team Building Games

I posted last week about some of my favorite team building games. Here are 5 more fun, high-energy games to build relationships between your athletes!

1. Ants on a Log:  

  • Designate a line on the ground – or a beam – to stand on.  
  • Have all athletes stand on the line.  
  • Number the players off one at a time.  
  • The goal of this activity is to get the whole group to switch positions on the line without falling/stepping off the line.  
  • For example, the player on the farthest left of the line will end up at the farthest right of the line by the end of the activity. The order of the players should be the same, but in reverse. For example, 1-10 → 10-1.

2. Pulse

    • Divide the group into two.  
    • Each group chooses a leader and forms a line behind the leader.
    • A ball or beanbag is placed within reach of the last person in each line.
    • Have team members hold hands.
    • Ask members of the team to hold hands, as the “pulse” will be passed by a squeeze. A ball or beanbag is within the reach of the last person in each line.  
    • Pull a card from a deck or flip a coin, calling out the result (“red” or “black; or “heads” or “tails”).
    • When “black” or “heads” is called, each leader squeezes the hand they are holding.  
    • The squeeze is passed through the line until it reaches the end.  
    • The last person reaches for the ball or beanbag.  
  • Whoever gets it wins, and goes to the other end of his/her line to become the leader.  

3. This or That

  • Start with everyone standing together in a group.  
  • Divide the floor in half, and tell athletes that they will move to the side of the floor that matches their preference.
  • Examples
    • Pizza or mac and cheese
    • Basketball or football
    • Nike or Under Armor
    • Cats or dogs 
    • Christmas or your birthday
    • Water park or amusement park
    • Rice or pasta
  • After each round of choices, encourage athletes to discuss their preferences with each other.

4. Warp Speed

Step 1: Mark the Path  

  • Everyone stands in a circle
  • The first person says the name of a person in the circle, and then throws the ball to them. 
  • That person catches the ball, then says another name and throws the ball to that person.  
  • The challenge is simply to get the ball thrown around to everyone in the circle, and finally back to the person who started
  • The ball cannot be thrown to a person standing directly beside you.  

Step 2: Speed  

  • Throw the ball in the same order as above, except this time focus on completing the circuit as fast as possible.  
  • Challenge the group to see how fast they can pass one ball around the entire group. Time the group, and ask them to predict how fast they think they can do it.  

Make it harder:

  • Move around in the space, but must always pass the ball to the same person.  
  • Add more and more balls, one at a time, until there are as many balls as people.

5. Giants, Wizards, Elves

  • Designate a line in the middle of the playing area.
  • Divide the group into two teams and put each team on opposite sides of the line.
  • Explain that in this game there are three main characters: giants, wizards and elves.  
  • Each character has their own movement and sound:
    • Giants: stand up very tall with hands raised overhead and make the sound, “Aaargh!”
    • Wizards: stand with one foot in front of the other; an arm extended toward the front with fingers wiggling and make the sound, “Hissssss!”
    • Elves: squat down and move from side to side with their arms waving about and make the sound, “Wooosh!”
  • Tell members what character wins over what character:
    • The giant wins over the wizard.
    • The wizard wins over the elf.
    • The elf wins over the giant.
  • Begin by having each team huddle on their start line. Ask them to quietly choose which character to be as a group.
  • Each team moves to the middle line. Yell, “One, two, three, what’s it going to be?” Then, each team flashes their character.  
  • Whichever team has the dominant character chases the other team back to their start line.
  • Anyone who is tagged before getting back to their start line becomes part of the opposite team.
  • Play several rounds. The Game ends when one team has captured all of the players.

What are your favorite team building games? Let me know in the comments!