Friday FunDay: 6 Activities for College Athletes to Take Their Mind Off Winter Training Week

Friday FunDay: 6 Activities for College Athletes to Take Their Mind Off Winter Training Week

As most students are wrapping up their semesters and getting ready to celebrate the holiday season, swimmers and divers around the country are gearing up for winter training. Every swimmer and diver knows that winter training is one of the most challenging weeks of practice during the entire season. For many, it can be a dreadful time because of the difficult tasks ahead.

As a collegiate swimmer myself, I have never gone on a training trip. My team has always continued to train at school after the holidays and before the remainder of students come back on campus. Although we don’t take a trip somewhere sunny and warm, we have always managed to make the most out of our time spent together as a team! Listed below are a few activities that can help teams who don’t have a training trip relax and take their minds away from the rigorous training.

White Elephant/Secret Santa Exchange

A classic activity for teams to participate in around the holidays is a white elephant or secret Santa gift exchange. Every year, my team gets together before we go home for winter break, and we all bring a wrapped gift to swap with our teammates. This is a fun and thoughtful activity that not only takes the mind off training, but also excites everybody for the holiday season!

Team Dinners

With no classes to study for or assignments to complete, our evenings are usually pretty empty. Having team dinners is a fun way for everybody to spend time together and form stronger friendships. Sometimes, parents on my team will bring home-cooked meals to school so that we all can eat a good dinner together after a hard practice.

Attending Sporting Events

For many schools, swimming and diving is probably not the only sports team left on campus over winter break. A great way for teams to show support of their fellow student-athletes is by attending their games or matches together. This not only gives swimmers and divers something to do during their day, but it also shows support by being there when no other students can be.

Cookie Decorating/Gingerbread House Making

Nothing is more festive than decorating cookies and making gingerbread houses with your friends and teammates! Activities like these are great for team bonding, especially if you work in groups to design a gingerbread house. It is always fun to incorporate a little bit of friendly competition among your teammates by seeing who can design the best cookie or create the coolest looking gingerbread house!

Ornament Making

Similar to decorating cookies and making gingerbread houses, ornament making is bound to take your mind off training and get you in the holiday spirit! This activity is a fun way to bring teams together to do something different.

Christmas Movie Night

A movie night is a good team activity for athletes to participate in during winter training week as it is relaxing and entertaining. Whether an upperclassman hosts the movie night, or somebody rents out a big classroom where the whole team can fit, this is an enjoyable activity for everybody to spend time together in a calming environment.

I hope teams find these activities to be useful and enjoyable during the hardest training week of the season!

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use