Youth soccer is inherently a social sport for the parents. Standing on the sidelines for matches and practices seems to be an ideal situation for socializing. So it isn’t uncommon to have soccer teams doing activities off the field together. Now granted, you want to broaden your child’s social horizons, so limiting their socializing to their soccer team isn’t a great idea, but who says that all their time with their soccer team has to be on the field. Some of my best memories as a soccer parent are often from the socializing that goes on between the matches, at end of season parties, etc. So I read with interest a recent thread over at the NC Soccer Forum about ideas off field activities:
Just curious if anyone does any "off field" activities to help build "team bonding" between players…(ex. trips to the mall, camping, swim parties. etc.).
And if so, which activities seem to be more feasible, or works better for you…
Thanks
DH
There were some interesting responses:
- An equipment Passback drive
- 5K runs
- Tournaments (the time away from the fields)
- Amusement Parks
- Pre-season team meetings at Hooters (U14 boys 🙂 )
- Team dance/ball
- Dinner out (Japanese steakhouse, etc)
- Indoor rock wall climbing
- The beach
- Pool outings
- Pumpkin carving at Halloween
I’m sure other teams out there have done neat off the field activities. Care to share some ideas?
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May 29th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I am not sure a pre-season team meetings at Hooters with 13 year old boys is a very good option. I certainly don’t want to sound like a prude and truly understand a boy’s blooming hormones – since we went to a tournament at Virginia Beach at the end of may and my 11 year old son kept turning his head at the blonde girls with pony tails. But I think there are better options…
Signed,
A Dad who has raised more Hell in his life than he cares to admit…
May 29th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
I found it a funny response – but seemingly more trouble than it’s worth. Exactly HOW much real team related work will get done? 🙂 I don’t think the coach would be able to hold the boy’s attention for more than 10 seconds! Most of them are overly distracted as it is – why add to it?
May 29th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
We gave our U-9 Challenge team a end of year limo ride that they seemed to enjoy quite a bit…not the cheapest of activities though.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
That’s excellent – but yes, expensive! I’m not sure any limo company in their right mind would RENT a limo to our U10s 🙂
May 30th, 2007 at 2:53 am
We do tournaments every year, and in between games, we barbecue. The boys love it, and they have so much fun just playing like big puppies. We commented this year at one bbq that the boys who weren’t there REALLY missed out on a big time bonding experience. We also have an end of season pool party/bbq every year at a local swim/tennis club that one of the families belongs to. By the end of the season, our boys are like brothers, and most really want to return the next year. One of our boys who was too young to return this year (we moved up to a higher division) was CRYING at the end of season bbq because he was going to miss it so much. Good times!
May 30th, 2007 at 8:23 am
We have done a team pool party (during the Summer – AFTER tryouts) and always have a beginning of the year cookout – before the season starts. That has worked out well. Out-of-state tourney’s have been great too – the boys seem to bond very well at these.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Some of girls travel teams in my area do pool parties or sleep overs. I did take my kids to the DC United game last week where they got to play on the field at half-time.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:33 pm
We’ve taken some Rec teams to Duke soccer matches to ball chase – they wear their uniforms, get introduced at half-time, see the match up close, and get autographs after the match. They loved it. The local semi-pro team has expressed interest in having a league night as well which we’re pursuing. Lots of fun!