How Team Sports Can Build Team Spirit Among Students

Team spirit fosters collaborative habits among students and motivates them to work together for achieving a common goal. It allows every student to work with more interest and complete a task in harmony. It is a significant moral value that every individual should possess. Working in a team makes even the hardest tasks easy to complete. So it is a win-win situation for both - the teachers, who assign students tasks, and the students, who are supposed to accomplish them.

Team spirit is important to build a successful team. Such a skill will help you carve out a successful career and provide you with the ability to work as a leader or an influencer. Team spirit helps members of a team to work efficiently by dividing the workload equitably. In this article, we will see how team sports can enhance team spirit.

Ways to teach students team spirit using team sports

There are several ways in which teachers can inculcate team spirit in students. In this section of the article, a few tips will be shared that will help teachers make their students learn and practice team spirit through collaborative sports. Students will also learn the importance of team spirit which will help them hone a crucial skill that is required for a successful career. Let us have a look at some methods, which can be used by teachers and adopted by students easily to learn team spirit through team sports.

Defuse the "bomb": For a healthy teamwork, communication, trust and balance are crucial. This team sport can be played to see how a team works in harmony when put into an unexpected environment. The objective of the game is to communicate in a coordinated manner in order to defuse a fake bomb. A large group can be divided into teams of 3 to 5 members each. One of the team members shall remain blindfolded, the second team member should act as the communicator and the third member as an observer. This game involves a few simple steps wherein the observer has to give directions to the communicator. The communicator has to interpret those directions and help the blindfolded member to reach the fake bomb and ultimately defuse it. Whichever team defuses the fake bomb in the shortest time wins the game.

Formation of the perfect square: This can be performed with a large group. Each team can start off by sitting in a circle. The next step is to blindfold them. Once they are blindfolded, they should stand up and try forming a square. A certain time frame can be fixed for this kind of team sport. Once the time is over, each team can then see how they have performed and how perfect the square is. Based on the results, the teams can be judged. Whichever team scores the highest wins the game. This game will teach students communication and coordination. The challenge in this game can be increased by changing the shape. Each level of difficulty will demand better communication and coordination from the team members.

Any sort of playground matches: Typical team sports, including cricket, soccer and volleyball that are played on the ground, are certainly a great way of teaching team spirit. Here students team up to achieve a higher score than the opponent team. All students in a single team collectively work towards winning. Such matches demonstrate the beauty of team spirit. Schools should encourage their students to play such sports. It should be ensured that outdoor games are a part of schools' curricula. For a healthy body, activity is very important. Students must remember that playing outdoor games is the best exercise for their body. Especially for growing children, it is highly recommended that they are allowed to play outdoors. Thus, teachers and students both must remember that to grasp the true essence of team spirit, outdoor team sports that involve scoring must  be encouraged.

Balancing the stick: This game requires a moderately strong stick. As per the length of the stick, the size of the team can be decided. This game instructs the participants to balance the stick on their index fingers. All the team members stand in a straight line, according to the length of the stick, and balance it by just using their index fingers. Gradually, they need to bend down, so that they are able to place the stick on the floor. Clearly, this is a game of great concentration and coordination. It also requires a decent amount of communication. It is quite likely that there would be a number of failed attempts. But teachers have to motivate the students to try without stopping and the students also need to be patient. Such team sports are great fun and can easily build team spirit.

Conclusion

The members of a team define its performance. How smoothly a team works, how efficient it is and how it accomplishes a task, all these depend on the team members. Therefore, it is crucial to have the skill of collaborative working. Team spirit teaches students to work efficiently along with other fellow students. Students learn to communicate properly and focus on the common goals for achieving them together. Through team spirit, students learn to provide support to their fellow team-mates, work in an organized manner and develop the habit of listening to everyone's ideas. All these together help students to achieve a common goal in harmony. Teachers must consider making students work in teams because this improves their overall productivity. Team sports are one of the most effective ways for teaching students team spirit.

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