Playground Leaders - Teacher Card 6 P is for PEOPLE AIMS- To show that by changing the number of people involved the task can become more enjoyable and appropriate for the participants.To show that there are many ways of organising people into teams. To show that rules are required to play games amicably.

TUTOR NOTES Playground Leaders will have to organize people effectively in order to run successful activities. Any activity that involves people (and therefore any of the games used so far) can be used to highlight the importance of people management. The Playground Leaders will have to make many decisions with regards to the people who are involved, the main ones being: • Where is each player going to stand to begin the activity? • What job does each player have to do? (Are they chasing or running away? Are they scoring or stopping others from scoring?) • How many players are in a group/team? • How will they get people into the group/team?

GETTING INTO TEAMS- This is often overlooked but very important. Even a session meticulously planned can fail if thought is not given to putting people into groups or teams prior to performing the activities. Time may needs to be spent looking specifically at this process.

How to get people into teams- Below are a few basic ways that could be used to illustrate getting people into groups:

 Get everyone to stand in a line, side by side in a certain order e.g. alphabetically by first name with A to the left and Z to the right. You could also use height, birthday (Jan 1st — Dec 31st), house number, last 2 digits of phone number, shoe size, etc. Bear in mind the age of the participants — will they know their alphabet or birthday?

 Once you have your line there are a few ways to split people up: • count straight into groups (first 5 are group 1, second 5 are group 2 etc). Easy to do but might give unfair teams if people are in height or shoe size line • give numbers e.g.1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4.All of the number l’s get into a group, all of the number 2’s get into a group etc. The main problem is people not going into the correct group or ‘forgetting’ their number, so make sure to count people out into their group as you go down the line.

 Use the ‘Getting into Teams’ resource cards, give them to groups of prospective leaders, let them try out the various ideas in groups and decide which ones they find to be be the quickest, least offensive, most enjoyable. Then make a short list of the ones that are the best when considering all of these factors. Obviously these are the ones that should be used while leading others. TUTOR NOTES Obviously we don’t want Young Leaders dividing groups into teams using the traditional method when they are leading for real, so use it to highlight how it is inappropriate. Stress the negative effect it will have on the people who are picked last regularly by asking those in that position how they feel and explain why this makes it a method that the Young Leaders won’t use (no matter how much the players ask them to!)

Resources- There are some resources on the market to help with this sometimes tricky task of getting people into groups. One of the best and most user-friendly is a product called ‘Groupems’. They are wristbands that come in a variety of colours and also have different shapes and symbols on them. Participants collect a wristband and are then put into groups by the leader either by colour, number, shape or symbol. For more information or to purchase a set of Groupems contact Davies Sports on 0845 1204 515, www.daviessports.co.uk or order through their catalogue. £29.95 for a set of 36-order number: P5H85222. Groupems can also be purchased from other sports equipment companies.

CHANGING THE PEOPLE- Another aspect that Playground Leaders need to understand is that the number of people in a team will effect the players’ enjoyment of the activity. Obviously the larger the team the less chance everyone will have to be involved and the less time each player will get to practice their skills, so try to encourage smaller teams wherever possible. A way of demonstrating this is to play a simple invasion game with very large teams and then ask the players to see how often they felt involved or touched the ball. Play again, but this time with only 3 or 4 a side and ask the same types of question. The Young Leaders will realise that although the larger game seemed like more fun at the start it was actually only a few people who played a part whilst the rest had little if any influence at all. Sometimes your Playground Leader may find themselves in a position where even with small teams and conditioned rules, some players don’t get a chance to become fully involved in the activity. GAMES- Kwik Cricket and Caterpillar Rounders are good examples of games where one person cannot ‘hog’ the action as everyone must take a turn in every playing position. Kwik Cricket Players work in pairs with each pair having a specific role to play. The roles are: A) batter, B) bowler, C) backstop, D) fielder. Each pair starts as shown in the diagram below

C

B A

D D

A

B

C

12 balls are bowled in total —6 by each bowler to each batter.The number of runs the batters get is recorded. Once 12 balls have been bowled each pair rotates so that they are playing a different role (batters become fielders, fielders become bowlers etc.) The game ends when every pair has played in every position and each pairs runs have been recorded. • Can your leaders think of games that encourage everyone to have a fair turn? • Could any activities that they are familiar with be altered or adapted so that everyone plays an equal part? • What are the good and bad things about this type of game?

Caterpillar Rounders- There is a batting team and fielding team, The first batter hits the ball. The aim is for the whole of the batting team (not just the batter) to run a given course around the cones and back before the fielding team can get the ball back into the bowling hoop. GETTING INTO TEAMS RESOURCE CARD 1

 Get players into a line side by side in height order

 Have the tallest at one end, shortest at the other

 When everybody is in a line, number everybody 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 etc

 Make all of the number 1’s get into a group, all the number 2’s etc

 You should end up with 4 groups of equal numbers

GETTING INTO TEAMS RESOURCE CARD 2

 Get all players into a line in alphabetical order

 Have A at one end and Z at the other

 Once everyone is in the line, count the first 4 people and move them into 1 group

 Count the next 4 people and get them into a group

 Continue to count off groups of 4 until everyone is in a group GETTING INTO TEAMS RESOURCE CARD 3

 Get players to jog around the area

 Explain that you will shout out a number and you want everyone to get into that number as quickly as possible

 Shout out ‘3’ and wait until everyone gets into groups of 3

 Set them jogging again (or skipping or hopping), shout ‘6’ and wait until they get into groups of 6

 Set them off again, shout ‘4’ and wait for them to get into groups of 4

 They are now in teams that you want and ready to start the activity

GETTING INTO TEAMS RESOURCE CARD 4

 Tell players to get into groups of 4

 Let them get into groups of their own

 You might want to use a stopwatch to time how long it takes them

 You could also watch out for any arguments or anyone getting upset PEOPLE WORKSHEET

1) Why might having teams with lots of people in them not be a good idea? ______

2) You have a group of 16 people and 4 footballs and you want to play football with them. How many teams will you have ?______How many people in each team? ______

3) You are doing relay races and you have 19 people. You have split them into 5 groups. How many people will you put in each group? ______

4) What could you do to make things fair for all teams if you were faced with the situation in Q3? ______

5) Write down 2 different ways you could get people into teams.

1______2 ______

6) Why might people picking their own teams not be a good idea? ______