Team Sleepover

[Gym-Nice-tics]

Hey,
I'm holding my annual end of the season sleepover for my team girls. We are doing a survivor theme, where people get "voted" off (losing different strength, flexibility, etc contests) of teams and the winner gets a new leotard.

I'm looking for interesting and new games to play with them. In their teams they play games such as red rover (a handstand variation), sharks and minnows, musical mats (A favorite for some reason), and a scavenger hunt. Does anyone have any ideas for other games I can include to keep it exciting?

Thanks.

[Shawn]

There was a great game they played at my DD's summer camp a few years ago. It was kind of a pirate-themed Simon Says but without those words. There were different "poses" and a caller would yell out a pose and the gymnasts had to get into position as quickly as possible. Last one was out. The poses were things like "three pirates eating" and the girls would sit down in groups of three and pretend to eat. Anyone without a group was out. "Starfish" was another position, a handstand in a straddle (the starfish). First one to fall was out. One of the funniest ones was "seasick" where they'd sit down, curl up and pretend to barf. They also used things like "sweep the deck" (pretend to sweep), "Captain's comming" (stand and salute) and "hit the deck" (lay down face-down). They would also use directions to make the girls run to the "front of the ship" and "back of the ship". To make it last longer, only certain calls would result in someone's being eliminated. The girls had a lot of fun with it and it was hysterical to watch.

[Shawn]

Another idea if you're doing it at the gym would be an obstacle course. You could make it funny things like climbing over one beam and under another or laying on their backs to scoot under a tunnel of mats, or "swim" across the foam pit.

[gymmomntc2e6]

Our gym has a "Queen of the beam" contest. It is usually who can hold a handstand on the beam the longest. But they have also done it w/ jumps. Whoever falls off is out. When it is down to the last two if they both land it - whomever jumped the highest and stayed on won.

[flippymonkeysmom]

An add-on type memory game on trampoline. Each teams adds on to what was previously done - so they have to remember all the moves done before and then add one themselves until someone makes a mistake. Of course the teams need to be evenly matched so they can all do the same skills.

[Shawn]

Another kind of memory game would be to run and touch something or someone. The next person would run and touch the same thing and then touch something else. They keep building until someone forgets one or does something out of order. This can also get them running all over the gym and might be good if you have a mixture of skill levels.

[Laura]

I will give you a list of games, If you are not familiar with them just let me know and I will explain further (sorry, I just don't have much time now! )

head red
captains coming
octopus
duck duck goose
coconut - (better explain this one, cos I made up the name!) they start standing on a line (or a low beam) and they are on the island. If you call out 'bank' they jump behind the line, if you call out 'river' they jump in front of the line. 'coconut' is crouching down on the island, 'palm tree' is standing up and presenting on the island and 'bridge' is standing with one foot either side of the island. -- they get out if do the wrong action or are too slow. the girls I coach (8 yo) love this game!!
rats and rabbits
the 'P' game (on beam) - lie under the high beam on stomachs. call out various words that start with P and they have to jump up on to the beam and do the correct action. Princess - stand one leg bent, so toes are pointed on beam hands on head like a crown.... pinapple - crouch on beam, hands on head like the spikes on a pineapple.... pirate - stand on one leg, cover one eye.... peacock - stand in a scale..... parrot - sit on beam facing sideways, one leg straight at the back and the other leg bent over the front of the beam..... possum - hand under the beam..... you can make up whatever you want really!
relay races
sticks / stick it

..... can't think of any more now....its too early!! lol will have a think about it during the day

[MoonKid]

Some of these games aren't particularly gymnastics related, but I know from experience are fun, especially at 2AM.


One is hide and go seek in the dark. There are a few versions of this but when I played it we would have the person who's it sit on a mat in the middle of the floor (more or less the middle of my gym) with a big flashlight. That person would close their eyes while everyone else hid, then we'd turn off all of the lights and the person on the mat would open her eyes and turn on the flashlight. Everyone who was hiding had to have some body part sticking out and the person on the mat would shine her flashlight around to try to see people. If someone was caught they were out, but if someone made it to the mat without being seen they were one of the winners.

Another game is capture the flag. We would divide the gym in half and each team would hide their "flag" (doesn't have to be a real flag) on their side, and then try to defend it from the other team.

There's also the ever popular seat-drop wars. I know some coaches feel that this is very dangerous, but there are some safety precausions that make it safer: have the lighter gymnast be on the side with the pit (where available), and have a rule that if you cross the centre line you're out.

Another fun game on trampoline is stick. There are different versions of it and different skills can be used depending on the age and level of the gymnasts.


I hope these sugestions help.