Coaches Games

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I recently took over a new group of girls. Their old coach had them play a game at the end of practice every friday night (usually capture the flag, dodge ball, or something like that). I'd like to continue this tradition, but with games that will have a bit more gymnastic benefit.

Ideas? We're looking at a group of 15-20 girls, ranging in age from 9 to 13.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

ours used to play the "Card game"

1 giant oversized pack of cards.

Split group into teams. Assign 1 skill to each of the suits

Place all the cards,face down on the floor. Each team has to turn over 1 card and do that many of the skill

ie 10 of clubs is 10 cartwheels say

when all the team has completed the skills they get the card for their pile and trun over another card.

The game is finished when all the cards have been taken. The team with the most cards is the winner

 

[dmytv]

How about " ADD ON".-Its like a memory game. 1st girl does a move, 2nd does that move then adds her own, 3rd girl does 1st move, 2nd move, then her own, etc.
Also Chicken in a henhouse. The kids run around and u yell out a comand and they have to find a partner to to that position. Last person not in position.
Chicken in a henhouse- One kid with legs apart, 1 kid underneath legs
Baby on my knee-1 kid kneeling and knee up 1 kid sits on knee
cat on roof- 1 kid on fours, 1 kid on the other kids back
bunk beds- 1 kid lays down and holds other kid above her like a bunk bed.
there are tons of variations.
We also do handstand walking obstacle courses.

 

[Natasha]

Mini Golf course walking on your hands. Set up obstacles (around a block, down a wedge mat, etc) Every time the gymnast comes down from her hands it counts as a stroke.

Dodge ball twist- instead of being "out" when hit, they are assigned a conditioning task and then return to the game.

Timed obstacle course circuits or relay races.

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

Handstand Game:
Everybody has a partner and one partner stands on the inside one on the outside (facing each other), all partners make one big circle. Partners in middle kick up to handstand, outside partner catches them. Coach yells switch and the holder runs to the next handstander and holds their legs. One a handstander falls, the handstander and the person who was supposed to hold them that round are out. The coach keeps yelling switch with different amounts of time in between, keep going until only one group remains. Start again with the opposite person handstanding and the opposite holding.
Make sure everyone knows at the beginning which way around the circle they are running. To add variety you can also say switch directions and they are run the other direction.
And yes I know that handstander and handstanding are not real words, but it was the best way to easily describe it. Hopes this makes sense.

 

[CoachGoofy]

Handstand Game:
Everybody has a partner and one partner stands on the inside one on the outside (facing each other), all partners make one big circle. Partners in middle kick up to handstand, outside partner catches them. Coach yells switch and the holder runs to the next handstander and holds their legs. One a handstander falls, the handstander and the person who was supposed to hold them that round are out. The coach keeps yelling switch with different amounts of time in between, keep going until only one group remains. Start again with the opposite person handstanding and the opposite holding.
Make sure everyone knows at the beginning which way around the circle they are running. To add variety you can also say switch directions and they are run the other direction.
And yes I know that handstander and handstanding are not real words, but it was the best way to easily describe it. Hopes this makes sense.

My gymnasts loooooove this game.

Also 4 corners, gym style. Run around, get to a corner when the music stops (or when coach claps. some signal). A corner number is drawn from somewhere (often my mind). Everyone in that corner has to do a certain skill. Person who does it best gets to pick 1 conditioning exercise for the group.

We've also done this with teams, so they go to the same corner when the music stops. To do it that way I have to assign colors or breakfast foods or something ("All the waffles come to the middle"), & then THOSE students do whatever skill & the team of the athlete who did it best gets to pick a conditioning. When I do this I mix up the teams. In either case, I look at who is out there to make sure they all can do the skill safely & well, obviously-it's no fun if you KNOW who can do it best.

 

[coachmolly]

I do relay races with my high schoolers (and use it with younger kids too) as a game that also mixes in conditioning. I try not to use anything that is too particular in terms of shapes because they can tend to get sloppy with speed, but stuff like long jumps, one foot hops, frog jumps, crab walks, leap frog, etc. can be fun. I'll try to mix it up every once in a while with something a bit silly- like they need to make the sound of the animal they are walking like. We'll do several sets of different things, sometimes mixing the teams up a bit if one is especially strong compared to the other, and the winning team gets to sit out of the final conditioning skill or do less. It could be fun if the winners got to pick the conditioning too.
I've done something similar on bars with L-holds and chin up holds- 2 teams the first holds the skill as long as they can, when they come down (or it gets ugly) the next girl goes. The team that stays up the longest collectively wins. And I've done handstand walks as a relay- first girl goes and walks as far as she can with the next girl following along on foot. When she comes down girl #2 kicks up where #1 came down.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

My all time favourite game is called Fruit Game.

Put all the kids to stand on beams sideways in a row. Then you tell them different fruits. Every fruit has different skill/move they have to do on beam when the fruit is yelled. We have use these:

Banana: standing with hands by ears
Apple: tuck stand
Strawberry: pike stand touching beam
Kiwi: sit on beam legs together and straight
Peach: front support on beam
Orange: full turn position
Pear: scale / arabesque position

Make sure everyone knows all the skills and fruits before starting the game. The one who falls or is too slow or does moves sloppy way has to go down. The last person standing on beam wins! I play this game with my preteam girls, rec kids and even optional team girls and they all seem to love it And this is nice way to practice balancing on beam. With rec kids the moves and skills are a bit easier.

 

[MsNicole_A2]

We like to play candy land... Every color is a different skill i.e. cartwheels, pull-ups etc. (we usually do it as conditioning) one square is a designated number i.e. 5 and then two squares is doubled... The kids love it and the preschoolers/preteam love playing with the "big girls"


Sent from my iPhone using ChalkBucket mobile app

 

[Deleted member D3987]

rope games. i lurve rope.

 

[Donna Hughes]

I recently took over a new group of girls. Their old coach had them play a game at the end of practice every friday night (usually capture the flag, dodge ball, or something like that). I'd like to continue this tradition, but with games that will have a bit more gymnastic benefit.

Ideas? We're looking at a group of 15-20 girls, ranging in age from 9 to 13.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkvSYWl8m9u17b-UaAGHjhdFfZwCedkM

 

[Donna Hughes]

My all time favourite game is called Fruit Game.

Put all the kids to stand on beams sideways in a row. Then you tell them different fruits. Every fruit has different skill/move they have to do on beam when the fruit is yelled. We have use these:

Banana: standing with hands by ears
Apple: tuck stand
Strawberry: pike stand touching beam
Kiwi: sit on beam legs together and straight
Peach: front support on beam
Orange: full turn position
Pear: scale / arabesque position

Make sure everyone knows all the skills and fruits before starting the game. The one who falls or is too slow or does moves sloppy way has to go down. The last person standing on beam wins! I play this game with my preteam girls, rec kids and even optional team girls and they all seem to love it And this is nice way to practice balancing on beam. With rec kids the moves and skills are a bit easier.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkvSYWl8m9u17b-UaAGHjhdFfZwCedkM

 

[Donna Hughes]

We like to play candy land... Every color is a different skill i.e. cartwheels, pull-ups etc. (we usually do it as conditioning) one square is a designated number i.e. 5 and then two squares is doubled... The kids love it and the preschoolers/preteam love playing with the "big girls"


Sent from my iPhone using ChalkBucket mobile app

Here are some of our games in our gym:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkvSYWl8m9u17b-UaAGHjhdFfZwCedkM

 

[Donna Hughes]

I do relay races with my high schoolers (and use it with younger kids too) as a game that also mixes in conditioning. I try not to use anything that is too particular in terms of shapes because they can tend to get sloppy with speed, but stuff like long jumps, one foot hops, frog jumps, crab walks, leap frog, etc. can be fun. I'll try to mix it up every once in a while with something a bit silly- like they need to make the sound of the animal they are walking like. We'll do several sets of different things, sometimes mixing the teams up a bit if one is especially strong compared to the other, and the winning team gets to sit out of the final conditioning skill or do less. It could be fun if the winners got to pick the conditioning too.
I've done something similar on bars with L-holds and chin up holds- 2 teams the first holds the skill as long as they can, when they come down (or it gets ugly) the next girl goes. The team that stays up the longest collectively wins. And I've done handstand walks as a relay- first girl goes and walks as far as she can with the next girl following along on foot. When she comes down girl #2 kicks up where #1 came down.

Here are some games for gymnastics:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkvSYWl8m9u17b-UaAGHjhdFfZwCedkM

 

[Donna Hughes]

Handstand Game:
Everybody has a partner and one partner stands on the inside one on the outside (facing each other), all partners make one big circle. Partners in middle kick up to handstand, outside partner catches them. Coach yells switch and the holder runs to the next handstander and holds their legs. One a handstander falls, the handstander and the person who was supposed to hold them that round are out. The coach keeps yelling switch with different amounts of time in between, keep going until only one group remains. Start again with the opposite person handstanding and the opposite holding.
Make sure everyone knows at the beginning which way around the circle they are running. To add variety you can also say switch directions and they are run the other direction.
And yes I know that handstander and handstanding are not real words, but it was the best way to easily describe it. Hopes this makes sense.

Here are some other games:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBkvSYWl8m9u17b-UaAGHjhdFfZwCedkM