Chapter 5

SCENARIO: you realize that one guardian is excessively competitive not only with the other adults, but with their child as well. This makes the rest of the team and –of course- the child very uncomfortable and pauses their motivation to be involved.
PLAN B: once again setting boundaries is the way out. Introduce to your team the “time out” game: every time someone feels uncomfortable with some teammate’s competitive behavior, they can raise their hand requesting for a “foul” and explaining loudly how they felt and why. After a person collects 3 fouls, they are sent for a “time out” to reconsider their actions. After the time out is over, they have share with the group how they felt and how they have processed the situation during their penalty.

(e) How to counter conflict

SCENARIO: two members of your team (one adult and one child) have entered into a strong conflict about the rules of the game/sport. The adult has raised their voice and speaks fast and non-stop and the child is not able to react, so starts crying.
PLAN B: first of all, you need to calm everyone down. Remove one from the other with the support of other team members and give them a few minutes to relax. Use the sports equipment to help them release the tension and find their temper (for example if there is a ball let them shoot a couple of times, or if it is track & field let them runs some short distance,). Bring them back together and instead of entering the conflict discussion ask them to say 3 positive things for the other person. It might be hard in the beginning but the other team members can help. Let them reconcile and even pair them up in the next exercise.

(f) How to reflect and evaluate

SCENARIO: your training session is over and your team/participants seem to have mixed feeling about how it went. However, it is important for you to listen to their feedback and be able to improve for the next time you meet.
PLAN B: line them up and ask them to exercise some of the sports’ goals individually (for example shoot the ball or jump as far as possible). If the person scores or performs well (in the previous example if the ball is IN or they jump is long enough) they are allowed to share one positive comment for the training session. If they fail, they can share a negative one. Of course, they always have the option to fail on purpose, if they prefer to share something negative and you need to explain that this is totally ok. After everyone has shared their comments, you gather up as a team again, express your appreciation to one another, while you as the leader reassures them that everything is totally fine even if they have shared only negative things.