piranha waters

a team building and communication exercise from the excellent soccer coaching book Catch Them Being Good

(first published on Decatursports.com)

Equipment: 4 cones to mark boundaries. 20-40 objects of various sizes. Stopwatch

Space: 15x15 yards

Numbers: 2 teams of any number

Objective:

To get your team, one blindfolded member at a time, from one side of the square to the other w/o being “eaten” by a piranha. The square area represents water. Only one blindfolded person is allowed in the water at any one time. You may designate one sighted captain or you can spread the wealth by alternating captains so that everyone has to lead at least once. The captain is the only one who can communicate while he or she tries to guide the blindfolded players, one by one, through the water w/o their being touched by any of the piranhas (objects). If the player does touch one, there is a ten-second penalty. The team that gets all their members across the water fastest is the winner. A coach should be assigned to each team and add any penalty seconds resulting from touching a piranha.

Lesson:

Players learn to keep their eyes on the prize while attempting to transfer the entire group safely to the other side. Sometimes we’re “blind” and lose sight of our goals and sometimes things are clear. When there is clarity, it’s easy to reach the prize. Sometimes there are obstacles and setbacks, but that’s part of what the season is all about: navigating and negotiating through these challenges and setbacks and getting safely and successfully to the other side.

Debriefing:

What was the hardest part of this exercise?
How did it feel to be completely responsible for the success of your teammates?
Who had the toughest job? Why?
What did you notice about yourself and experience when you were blindfolded?
How can we apply these lessons to our session?

you can buy Catch Them Being Good at Amazon.co.uk