By Bri Groves, Swimming World College Intern.
As the holiday season is quickly approaching, take a moment to celebrate with your team and make memories that will last for years to come. To help you with this process, we’ve come up with 10 easy ways to add some holiday spruce into your workout groups:
1. Secret Snowflake
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Randomly assign each team members one secret snowflake. The secret snowflake is in charge of bringing small gift items to team activities and delivering them in secret. At the end, have all team members gather and reveal the secret snowflake identities.
2. Holiday Caps
Photo Courtesy: Kiefer Gingerbread man cap
Supply the team with some festive holiday flare. The caps bring enthusiasm to swimming and can be a good way of looking festive even underwater.
3. Team activity
Photo Courtesy: Emily Grigsby
Schedule a team outing to go sledding, iceskating, or choose another fun winter adventure. Team activities are a great chance to bond and celebrate at the same time.
4. Gift Exchange
Photo Courtesy: JD Hancock
Have every team member bring in a small gift to practice. Draw numbers to decide who gets to choose a gift from the gift pile first.
5. Swim Card Game
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Assign each suit a stroke and each number or face card an event. Allow one swimmer at a time to choose from a pile of the facedown cards. The swimmers pick the workout.
6. Cookie Baking
Photo Courtesy: Moyan Brenn
Gather at a team member’s home to get messy in the kitchen and make something sweet. While you wait for your delicacies to bake, enjoy quality time with team members.
7. Play Holiday Music
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Playing music at practice is a great motivator and holiday music is an awesome way to get people in the spirit while still putting in the hard work. For added autonomy, allow individuals to pick songs or design the playlist as a team.
8. Watch a Movie
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Lounging and watching a film together can we a great taper, rest, and team bonding activity. Go out to the theatre or grab a movie and gather around the tv.
9. Community Service
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Community service is an awesome way to give back to those around you, work as a team, and feel grateful for what you have. Don’t hesitate to do this one throughout the year!
10. Crafts
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Put those creative minds to work with a nice change of pace. Try making team posters, memorabilia, or something festive to remember the season and each other.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.