Team unity/bonding exercises and drills

[CTLaxer]

I was wondering if you guys had any good team unity and bonding drills that you can do during conditioning or practice. I'm in need of some good ones as we're halfway through the season and need a hand in relying on teammates and having confidence and trust in one another. Thanks!

[allylax03]

take a saturday/sunday and go play lasertag as a team..nothing to do with drills in practices or conditioning but its a good teambuilding activity

[exile lacrosse]

that sounds like uber fun. as far as "team bonding" when we are running well do our chant type thingy. not too exciting. maybe a party at someones house, altho that may get out of hand. i like the idea of lazer tag, and maybe other fun things you can do as a team just soley for fun.

[wmfalconlax20]

It also has to happen naturally, your team has to be friends off the feild, if you got one loner type who isn't really any ones friend off the feild he will never bond on the feild.

[waxon]

play paintball or laser tag or go carts.

[CTLaxer]

yeah, I would like to do those types of things, but I don't really have the opportunity to do those. Sundays are off limits and the majority of my team work on saturdays and get off for games. After school is practice time and we can't really afford to take time off from skills work.

[lilaxgurl23]

When we do drills that we normally stink at, like weak hand catching and passing we are not great at, our coach will force us to have to catch say 20-30 in a row. Now that is a challenge for our team for some reason, but in order to succeed, we have to pick up our teammates that feel bad they just made the team go back down to one, encourage others that they can do it. Now it takes a while for our team to get it right, but we all bond bond because of things we have to do to rely on each other, I think our team is really close together. We do sprints for about 30 minutes, and we all cheer each other on so we all make it through. Make up some drills that requires participation from everyone so if one person messes up, the whole team messes up. Just got to get them working and cheering for each other and believing in themselves and their teammates.

[laxjunkie]

We went through a two game losing streak, and I could tell morale was really low. :banghead: Held a kickball practice. Slaughtered our next opponent, running second and third lines for 80% of the game (they got tired, had to put the first stringers back in, even switched attackmen to D. I felt horrible for the other team). But I noticed even on the way down to the game, they had that "spark" that was missing for over a week.

Before key games, we have a light practice covering key concepts for the next day, and then go out for pizza. Helps shake off those nerves, they shoot the breeze, and joke around.

Sports should be fun for high school kids, which I think is something that gets lost on a lot of coaches. It's ok to take a practice and spend it on "bonding" time. Team unity helps good players pull through together, even when the chips are down. You can tell the teams that don't have it. I would take a group of really good team players over a team of really good individual (i.e., hotdog) players anyday.

Another activity - book the gym and play dodgeball with tennis balls, full gear, and cups (key).

[GBaschski]

My team is made up of a handful of us good players, and a lot of newbies that aren't that great. In the beginning of the season (we're about four or five weeks in), me and some of my friends really disliked having to play with these newbs that couldn't play very well. We would just scoff and glare every time they screwed up in practice, and we were real hard asses for a while. There was this one guy in particular, a defenseman who had barely played lacrosse before in his life...and he was pretty bad, but he had so much heart and he would never give up and always keep at it 100% in everything he did. We noticed this and started congratulating him when he did something good, and showing him how to do things right when he did something wrong.
The unity in the team just grew from there. Most of us had never met eachother before in our lives, and if you saw us today, we're great friends.
Our team actually went on a bus trip from Charlotte to Chapel Hill this weekend to go see the UNC v. Duke lacrosse game. We bonded a lot on that trip.
If your team's got heart, the unity should build itself.

[imipono]

You might want to try indoor rock climbing on belay because you have to have each couple depend and trustt the person belaying to catch them if they fall...doesn't ASU have a rock gym or somthing that you would be able to coordinate with them? I know there's a rock gym on University that might be willing to help...

[roycegracie47]

My College team did some Dave & Buster's stuff a few times, the movies, played lax versions of dodgeball and ultimate frisbee. My current club team is planning on going to the G'town v. Duke game...as well as going to the bar after everything we do (games, practice etc...).

[laxfolife24]

our team is going to the beach tp practice and then hang out afterwards and last weekend we went tye-dying at a teammates house. Mostly to get to know more about each other and gain more trust. At practice on our conditiong days we usually do relays so our team has to depend on that person to get to them fast and yuo can like "encourage" each other. Help each other out in practice and i know people are guna lie talk **** about each other and that only hurts the team chemistry so try and get he captains to put a stop t that if they notice it happening. The Rock Climbing thing seems like the best thing to do though.

[CTLaxer]

We played touch football last week, and instead of conditioning before a game friday, I had them playing dodgeball with foam softballs. Our pasta dinners have been going well, I've noticed a lot more commeraderie. Some unity is finally being built....now I have other issues to deal with. lol, one step forward, two steps back!

[Laxergirl]

well during our practice we've done yoga as a team...i don't really know if you would be into that but it was fun to do it as a team. we used to have "game day" on fridays of practices where we would spend like 45 min just playing some goofy game like "red rover" and baseball with our lacrosse sticks. and then we would just do a bunch of dumb stuff like spin for 15 seconds and try to race each other or something like that. it was awesome because everyone gained each others trust. our favorite game was this thing we called the "numbers game" where everyone would spread out and the coach would yell out a number like "4" or something. then you would have to run and form groups of four until you cant anymore then those people are out. thats a good one because youre not thinking youre just like "i need to find three more people to make a group, FAST!"

outside of practice pasta parties are lots of fun. TPing houses as a team is good stuff too. basically just hang out and get comfortable and everything will be good!

[RYU]

Two words... Fight Club.

Wait, my bad... The first rule of Fight Club is, don't talk about fight club. Forget I brought that up.

Anyway, girls probably don't take to it the way boys do.

[CTLaxer]

Yeah, we do something similar with the guys...the girls however would not quite appreciate it I don't think. Well, I know 2 or 3 that would, but they're the exception.

[WHEELAX2]

i guess anything to mix it up.. basketball, frizbee, football, dinners, even camping.. anything that might bring out hidden talents in others that might not show while playing lacrosse. like leadership skills, etc..

[Waynelax]

Go to local college lacrosse games with the team. It also helps the players bond with their parents as well! Whenever we do not have a game etc. we go to the local college for a game (usual like 3-4 times a season). Works well prior to the season opener too! Luckily, Rutgers and Army are like an hour drive from our high school!

[Coach MacLax]

Sometimes, if things seem a little tense, we'll put the goals about two hundred yards a part and let the guys play bagattaway. Minimum supervision-- just enough to keep it safe -- they always have a blast!

[laxgoalie07]

have team dinners like once a week and go running in the winter and have fun like throwing snowballls during runnign and stuipd stuff and just hang out as much as possibel and get the freshmans acquinted to the team

[beach2300]

Well, I found that watching a football game on sunday and grilling out does the trick. I also think that having practices where you just mess around can really lighten everyones mood.

[auslax_goalie]

take a saturday/sunday and go play lasertag as a team..nothing to do with drills in practices or conditioning but its a good teambuilding activity
yeh thats what we did and before big games+first and last game all go round one guys house for a pasta night put on some vids great team feel

[laxfolife24]

do a team scavenger hunt, those thingss are soo much fun and i would say have a practice at the beach but it's fall and i dont know how close you are to the oceann.also pasta parties before gamess are good and any drills where the teammates have to depend on one another to get something done.

[SWIMMOVE]

have team dinners on like fridays when you dong have a game.... just everyone go to someones house and have dinner and then hang out.... tons o fun!

[stinisonfire]

if you're looking for actual team conditioning, i suggest this. do suicides/sprint relays as a team. you would not believe how amped teammates can get cheering on their last guy busting his butt for the rest of the squad.

but yeh, have a team movie night every once and a while. my hs team, we got together and watched 'hoosiers' before the playoffs. beat the #1 seed team in the south the second round and even designed a play "picket fence" based off of it.

[aikitim]

I get free tickets to a bunch of sports events so my mom got a bunch of tickets for a Gerogia Force Arena football game and we went and watched that as a team. that was a blast.

[beach2300]

dude....bonfire

[aussielax]

Get all your teamates round to someones house get some beer and pizza and watch some movies, Prefferabley some sport movies(Mirricle, Remember The Titans, Friday Night Lights, Mean Machine) or just watch some lax video's.

Apart from that if you get the chance take your whole team to a party, it's always a real good atmosphere, pluss we all know girls love lax players.

[Jesse]

One of my mates Aussie Rules Footy teams went rafting and camping. They went for a week and they said that it worked really well....

[faceitoff]

Sometimes, if things seem a little tense, we'll put the goals about two hundred yards a part and let the guys play bagattaway. Minimum supervision-- just enough to keep it safe -- they always have a blast!

That sounds soooo sweet.

[franks2089]

When people start fighting/aruging my coach makes those people carry a goal around the track

[lax5pb]

love that idea...will have to try it , my players will thank you.

[spenny]

When people start fighting/aruging my coach makes those people carry a goal around the track

that one is a winner and is getting added to my bag of tricks! thanks.

[moondog]

Be friends with your teammates. When I was 14, we had a "Rockyfest" at my place. We had a ton of Ice Cream and Spaghetti, and we watched all 4 Rocky movies ( I STILL do not count 5 as a true "Rocky" movie). We still talk about it to this day.

[ilaxitup007]

yeah team dinners are really successful. do them every once in a while after a weeknight practice, day before a game.

also my team always goes down the shore for spring break which is a blast and definitley brings our team really close together.

you can also go to nearby college games together this way you can talk about lacrosse or anything you want.

[Fatboy]

I have to say my coach is the biggest tool alive. Half of our team does not get along with each other in school....but when we step on the lax field....everything changes in a positive way. Like people said, any sort of team activity like indian runs or group sprints, team dinners and parties etc should help....

Yeah this is an old thread....but I still had two say something.... "emphasis on my caoch is a tool"

[JHULax4]

This year.. my fall indoor team only had 2 wins the entire season.. and i think we went 2-10 or something like that... but everyone makes it into the playoffs, so we still had a chance.. but we didnt really have a chance. If we won the first game we played.. we got to play in the championship game the same day.. so we won the first game out of luck, and we had an hour break before the championship game.. and in that hour.. we just got to know eachother better and goof off and all that stuff.. it really brought out the personality in the team.. anyway.. we ended up winning the championship, because of what i think, was the "goofing off" inbetween games

[GeorgiaMiddie2]

here's a few ideas i got from both lax and cross country.
lax: every now and then when the team was just feelin down, the coach would tell us that we could play any game we wanted... as long as it involved something in lax. then the team would just run our own practice... we did a lot of hippo, 3 v 3 tourneys, trick contests, etc.

xc: every night before a meet, one of the guys in the top 20 would hold spaghetti dinner at their house for the top 20. we would have a sign up sheet at the beginning of the season, and we would all just meet up (coaches and all) and not say a word about the meet the next day... we would just chill with each other and have a good time. after training every single day, it was finally a way to just let loose and relax with everyone for a few hours. then, the next morning, we got focused and got down to business.
Also, our coach would take our top 21 and 3 or 4 best freshman to myrtle beach for a week for team camp about two weeks before our first meet. we would train in the morning, and then have all day to just relax at the beach with all our friends. at night, we would all eat dinner together. the coach would say a few words about the upcoming season before we ate, and after dinner we would either go into town to walk the streets, go dancing, see a movie, etc, or head down to the beach again. and during the day every now and then, he would meet with each of us separately, asking what our strengths and weaknesses were, telling us what he expected from us, and asking us what our individual goals were for the season. Along with all this, he set aside times for the team to set our goals for the seaon, tell what our strengths and weaknesses were as a team, and tell us what he expected from the team. This week every year are some of the best moments of my high school career. ther's nothing like bonding with the guys for a week at the beach, and gettin to know everyone. it was the greatest bonding routine.

[Dr.Lacrosse]

this has been said 50 times already but:

no cussing or this will happen to you...

[irishlax611]

well i remember when my brother was in hs .. his coach at the begining of the season when every body was just meeting each other ...he made the team watch "Remember the Titians" together... and i dunno if it helped at all but that year they made some playoff thing i forget what ...but they made it for the first time in school history scince some odd years ago

[moondog]

Crash the pompom sleepover. jj

[marflax33]

Go have hamburgers together!!! oh yeah.

[GeorgiaMiddie2]

sorry, moondog, but as a mod i've got the not so lovely task of enforcing the rules. i really don't like doin stuff like that, but if y'all would follow em, i wouldn't have to.

[laxgod1790]

Well back on topic. As for team unity, I ran cross country this fall and the whole team really bonded with each other. The day before every meet we had a pasta party at somebody's house but I think the main reason was that we were all running and training hard and we got to see everybody when they were weak and everybody offered encouragement. The team was truly an amazing experience and I'm good friends with all of them.

[aof09lax]

I agree with the people who say have a group get-together off the field. Pasta parties are a fun occasion (even though carbo-loading does not work if you start the night before a game). I have a few other on-field ideas, too:

In younger levels (6th grade to lower level highschool teams [non varsity])There is a tendency that players will group into bunches according to playing levels. First line guys will usually stay together, so will defenseman or middies. The point is you have to mix these guys up so that even the best middie will go up to a third line attackman and tell him 'good shift' or 'nice play' even have him over their house after the game. I suggest possibly having a time in practices where you play three on three (shortened field) mixing everyone together; your third line defense with your first line midfield, your star attackman with your weakest d-man. Goalies can be goalies unless someone volunteers to go in net. This will lead to fun and friendly competition.

In older teams (varsity high school, elite travel, college, and beyond), more should be expected of players. They have played on so many teams that teamwork and respect for teamates should be understood. I beleive if kids don't want to work and bond with their teamates at this level, they shouldn't play. But, some people may disagree with this idea, so there is an alternative. Make the team do something that involves them putting their skills foward for a reward. For example, to work on bounce shots, put a hat on the ground and make each player try to hit the hat while shooting. If they one guy hits the hat, the team does not have to do as much conditioning as usual, BUT NEVER PUT ALL THE PRESSURE ON ONE PLAYER because if he fails, he will not live it down, especially if you are already having bonding issues on a team.
That's what I got
JP

[NewMillax4life]

my team is gonna have a lock in for all of the new kids and what not, itll be pretty cool

[beach2300]

Keg race against the rugby team........

[drifter8027]

if you have a high school team of guys take them to hooters...they will respect you and they will all have a good time