Team-Building During Covid

This is not an all-inclusive list of team-building ideas, but rather a starting point. Some of these are general team-builders that can be used anytime, and some are specific to Covid-19 and when your team is quarantined. You might not like an idea at face-value, but it might make you think of something else. Regardless, do not let the circumstances win.

Positive leadership means finding solutions and making the best of whatever situation you face. You can’t always control the situation, but you can always control your attitude. Stay positive and stay encouraged!

Deliver Donuts – Take donuts to a different group of people each day. If you have 14 players, each player chooses a business, cause, organization, or group of people to receive donuts (or something else) and the coaches or whomever isn’t in quarantine can take those donuts to that place of work. Each player takes turn choosing. Maybe you cover first responders, the janitors at each school in your district, police officers, fire fighters, nurses, doctors, dentists, crossing guards, non-profits, etc…

Thank You or Appreciation Cards – Write notes to others letting them know how much you appreciate them or are thankful for something they’ve done. Teachers, professors, other coaches, janitors, administrators are all a good start. You could also do family members or community members that have done good things. This is easy to do and will mean a lot since handwritten notes are a rarity.

Social Media – There are a million things you can do with social media to bond and have fun during these challenging times. Here are some quick ideas that hopefully percolate your mind to come up with other ideas, as well.

• Fun hashtags – Have fun with hashtags. Use established ones to try to go viral or come up with your own related to your team or Covid-19.
• Takeover the team account for a day
• Different perspectives – same event or activity but captured and shared from multiple players accounts.
• Contests – she who or what can get the most engagement (likes, shares, retweets, etc…)
• Videos – Make short videos on a certain topic. Do a different video each day with a different theme. Do a workout video for elementary school kids that need virtual gym class. Sing Christmas Carols for nursing homes.
• Celebrity Hunt/Viral – Which athlete can get the most famous person to interact with their social media post about their team? Tag celebrities or slide into their DMs. Ask them to come on your next zoom call. Appeal to their emotions with you being on quarantine or trying to make the most of what’s going on. Maybe they are interested in what you’re doing in the community even though you have challenges.
• Secret judges – Have mystery people judging different contests or posts
• Acknowledgements – encourage, thank, praise, or acknowledge people on social media

Cheer for Other Teams – If contests are canceled or postponed at your school but you are still allowed to practice, then cheer on other teams. Take 30 minutes to go cheer on another team at your school during their training session. Make some signs, paint your face, get some noise makers, whatever the other coach will allow and go cheer on your classmates for a little bit. Yes, this might be cheesy but have fun with it. You love cheering on classmates at their games, find a coach willing to allow this and enjoy. Maybe even keep it a secret from the other players until you show up.

Shoe Box Giving – You might have a bunch of shoe boxes laying around, fill those up with toys, office supplies, gifts, candy, etc… and give them to a local YMCA, boys & girls club, or community center. It is relatively inexpensive to go to the Dollar Store and buy some stuff for younger kids – especially if you pool your money.

Red Kettle Program – If the Salvation Army is doing the Red Kettle program in your area, volunteer for an hour or two and wear your team’s travel suit. Your whole team could take turns doing this in pairs (stand six feet apart, of course) and take care of a whole day at a grocery store or at the mall. In shifts of two, you could cover the entire day (or weekend) and raise a lot of money for the salvation army during this crucial time.

Zoom Calls – By now, you’ve probably had a ton of Zoom calls. Keep doing these but try to be creative with them. Google “creative zoom calls for students” and you can find a million different ideas. Especially if you are in quarantine, I suggest doing a Zoom call every day at the time that you’d normally do a training session. If you practice M-F from 4-6:00 pm, then you’ll have a Zoom call with the team at 4:00 each day. It doesn’t have to last two hours but maintain consistency and connection. My other suggestion about this is to have a variety with your Zoom calls. For instance, one day is X’s & O’s or sport-related stuff, one day is silly, one day is team-building, and one day is competition (especially good if you were supposed to have a game that night). Have guest speakers, surprise judges for the competitions, allow athletes to take selfies/pictures/videos of the zoom sessions themselves, eat the same food at the same time like you would be if you were together (all of you get the same pizza restaurant to deliver at the same time).

Virtual Tailgate – You can’t get together for the big game? Maybe a team from your school is playing in the championship but you can’t be there because you’re quarantined, or they are not allowing spectators. Have a virtual tailgate and get together virtually for an hour or so prior to the game (or during the game) and all eat the same food and have some fun games. Look at what you’d be doing at a live tailgate party and see how you can adjust it to fit a virtual setup. Maybe you can get a sponsor to deliver food to all the athletes at the same time. Use social media to provide live updates to the rest of the world about how much fun you are having and how much school spirit you have (or how much so-and-so team is going to whoop the other team). Have fun with this!

Competitions – Compete against each other individually or split up into teams. You can do the same thing each, each week, or you can change up the games each time. There is no limit to your imagination on this. It can be games related to your sport, it could be common card or board games, it could be social media contests, it could be things like trivia or charades, etc… If you split up into teams, you could even do a situation where each team comes up with their own game and rules. This would be like a team having home-court advantage. You are essentially doing what corporate offices do when they come up with office Olympics when the boss is away, or families do to pass the time in the car on long trips. Be creative and have fun.

Skills – Either learn a new skill (e.g. juggling, playing an instrument, braiding hair, painting, magic trick, brain teaser, etc…) or work on a skill related to your sport. You could then show them off in front of the computer camera.

Encouragement – Nothing fancy with this one. Just encourage one another. Be intentional about encouraging one team member each day. If you want to challenge yourself, encourage every team member every day. Find as many positive things as you can to say to them. Regardless, you should be encouraging others on a daily basis as much as possible. It takes very little time and effort to shoot off a quick text message. You never know when a teammate might need some like “What’s up. Thinking about you. Three more days. Hang in there. #CovidMakingUsStrongerTogether” (obviously come up with one better).

Workouts – Even if you are away from your team, you can still workout and train (unless you are actually sick). Commit to having regular workout sessions. Video some of those or at least a before and after (let’s get to work and then you are sweating and tired but satisfied). Challenge each other. Who can get the most pushups, sprints, or shots made?

Community Service – Our community (and country) could probably use some feel-good stories or examples now more than ever. There is still something that you or your team can do to give back and make your community a little better. It might not be what you’d have done last year at this time. It might not be what you’d want to do. It might not be perfect, but you can do something. The time is always right to do something nice for someone else. You can even do virtual volunteering. There are a bunch of ideas at HelperHelper.com and DoSomething.org

Become Smarter – In some ways, we’ll have more down time than we’ve ever had. This a great opportunity for us to visualize situations related to our sport. It is also a great time to read. The best leaders are good learners. The best leaders are readers. Take this time to think and evaluate how you can be your team’s Most Valuable Leader or the team’s Most Valuable Teammate. Stay connected with your teammates and coaches. Share ideas and become smarter athletes. When you and your teammates share ideas and talk about different situations you’ll encounter once the season starts back up, you’ll be much more prepared. There is an old proverb that says “Fix your roof when it’s sunny outside.” Right now is a great time to think about how you can be a better teammate and more positive leader. You can think about how you will be more coachable and how you will react in certain situations. You can begin training your mind and preparing for those situations that are sure to occur during your season. Nothing can take the place of your physical training sessions, but the sharper you are mentally when you return, the less you’ll be behind. A quick mind can sometimes make up for a slow foot.

Resources – It’s difficult to have a positive and healthy culture with a team made up of unhealthy and negative individuals. Here is a list of recommended ideas to keep you and your team members healthy mentally, intellectually, physically, and emotionally during this pandemic.

• Self-care resources from The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• CDC’s resources on managing anxiety and stress
• National Athletic Trainer’s Association suggestions on sleep
• NCAA Sport Science Institute’s nutrition recommendations
• Nutrition ideas from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• Connect with a crisis counselor 24/7 via text message
• Laughter Permitted podcast with Julie Foudy and Dr. Colleen Hacker
• Stay Calm. Stay Active. Stay Connected – LoveIsLouder.org