Parents Parent Olympics- So. Much. FUN.

[Natasha]

We held our first ever Parent Olympics at our gym last night. It was probably the best team-building activity we have ever done (at least for the parents for sure). We started off with a 1/2 hour open workout for the gymnasts to "coach" their parents on the basic skills they would be required to do. Then we had all the parents line up (by practice group team), played the national anthem and they reported to their events. It was a team competition only, so the top 3 scores counted for the score. The optional gymnasts were the judges (They even dressed up in skirts, blouses and blazers.) The other gymnasts acted as coaches. We had required skills on each event (kept it simple to encourage everyone to participate) and the team parents cheered for each other. Our team even bought matching hair ribbons for the moms to wear. The parents LOVED it! We laughed so hard! The parents said it gave them such an appreciation for what the gymnasts do. We completed the night with team awards, complete with dollar-tree medals for the top 3 teams, and a trophy for the 1st place team, which will be passed from year-to-year to the winning parent team. I am very stiff and sore this morning though....

 

[Moxiegrl83]

That sounds like a blast! I'll have to mention it to our HC/owner, it sounds right up her alley. It does sound like a great way to build some team (and parent!) camaraderie though!

 

[txgymfan]

Love it! What skills did you do?

 

[Natasha]

We had 8 different things for the teams to do. Each team had 6-10 parents and the top 3 scores for each of the 8 things counted for the team competition, so they only needed to have at least 3 people doing each event. We had 2 judges per event, and they were scored on a simple 1-5 scale with the scores added (so yes, you could get a perfect 10)
Vault 1- jump to squat on, on the vault table (the moms in our team group did the scene from "stick it" with the bra straps and victory fingers while the dads groaned at us.)
Vault 2- handstand flatback or dive roll on the mat. (basically L3/L4 vault)
Pit bar- jump to bar, tap swings (attempt to horizontal and fall fatback)
Uneven bars- 3 casts in a row (attempt to get 45 degrees below horizontal)
Floor 1-- Choose beginning pose, cartwheels accross floor, leaps back, ending pose.
Floor 2- - handstand forward roll.
Beam- Forward and backward walk on toe, pivot turn, straight jump
Rope Climb

All night long, (in between fits of laughter) you could hear parents saying "wow I had no idea how hard that is" and "How do you do this?" And "I'm never going to say (fill in the blank) to my daughter again." And, lots of "This is a lot scarier than it looks."
I am big on experiential learning. Mission accomplished.

 

[clrmom]

That sounds fun. At my dd's birthday this year (all family) she wanted an Olympic theme. She is the youngest (turned 10) of the cousins and out of the ones present the next youngest was 14. All of the teenagers were good sports and ran a relay race, threw shotput (water balloon) and discus (frisbee). Then she wanted everyone to do a beam routine on her floor beam. This activity got everyone involved including all of my aunts and my mom/dad. It was really funny to see everyone try to walk and turn on the beam (a few even tried to jump). They all said that now they will have a better appreciation when watching the Olympics. I would love to do this activity at our gym.