While the Badges for Baseball program uses baseball as the initial hook to get kids to participate, the program doesn’t have to be baseball exclusive. The lessons taught in the HCHC curriculum can apply to any activity!
If you are running a unit on flag football, basketball or even volleyball, you can still teach these important lessons and reinforce them through the activity. This may even help you reach a different group of kids that you couldn’t before. In this series, we will take you through a variety of ways you can use other activities to teach these lessons.
Healthy Choices, Healthy Children Lesson - Teamwork
After reviewing the lesson on teamwork in the HCHC Coaches Manual, you can use this activity to reinforce that idea while practicing flag football:
Flag Football Drill - Sling & Fling
Equipment Needed
· 4 footballs
· Enough flags for every participant
How to play
1. Split the players into 4 equal teams and have them line up with their team.
2. Within those lines, have each player line up 4 yards apart from the person in front and back of them.
3. The first player in line will be given the ball and become the quarterback.
4. When the game begins, the quarterback will turn around and throw a pass to the next player in line.
5. That player must catch the ball, and then run towards the quarterback.
o If they drop the ball, they have to throw the ball back to the quarterback and try again.
6. The quarterback must remove the flags from the player running at them
7. Once the flags are removed, the player with the ball gives it back to the quarterback and sits down 4 yards behind them.
8. This process repeats until all the players have caught the ball and are sitting in a line behind the quarterback.
9. The first team to have all the players seated in a line wins.
Recap
Ask the kids a number of questions about the activity and how it relates to teamwork:
· Do you think you worked well together as a team to achieve your goal?
· What were some of the ways you had to work together? Please give specific examples.
· If you had a chance to do it again, what would you change to work together better and finish faster?
· What are some ways you can practice positive teamwork off the field? Maybe in the classroom or at home.
*Note – This activity and a number of other flag football activities are available in our Flags for Fitness Playbook located on our materials page under “Planning Field Activities.”