Team Bonding

[Anonymous]

With all the tournaments happening over the next few weekends was wondering what your teams do for team bonding between game days.
Just a team dinner or hotel pool? Any tips for what works for your team?

[Anonymous]

Tip: don't overengineer it. If at an away tournament, order a bunch of pizzas to the hotel and let the kids go (appropriately) wild in the hotel pool. Find a space outside and have some parents bring a cornhole or outdoor game or two. If the weather sucks, some parent got a larger hotel room, cram them and the pizzas all in to watch a stupid movie or stream some Olympic soccer from Peacock.

If local, small things count. Do a post early game brunch at a picnic table in the tournament area. Everyone can pick something up. If a mid afternoon, some family has a camping grill. Fire it up, potluck it out. This will work for ages up to U15 or so

[Anonymous]

Meals are easiest. We do a kid table and then an adult table and they get to sit together and talk/hang out. Honestly, casual and low distraction/activity meet ups work best for actual bonding. I know some that will look for a David and Buster's it similar location during tournaments. I find them not great for bonding since they hardly hang out.

[Anonymous]

Only his mother calls him David. Everyone else calls him Dave.

[Anonymous]

D&B is what all the cool kids call it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only his mother calls him David. Everyone else calls him Dave.

Once in awhile it is very worth my time to be on DCUM

[Anonymous]

Remember when kids on teams didn't need their parents to manufacture and orchestrate bonding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember when kids on teams didn't need their parents to manufacture and orchestrate bonding?

Ok gramps. Is that also when a pack of chewing gum was a nickel and you walked uphill both ways to all your practices?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tip: don't overengineer it. If at an away tournament, order a bunch of pizzas to the hotel and let the kids go (appropriately) wild in the hotel pool. Find a space outside and have some parents bring a cornhole or outdoor game or two. If the weather sucks, some parent got a larger hotel room, cram them and the pizzas all in to watch a stupid movie or stream some Olympic soccer from Peacock.

If local, small things count. Do a post early game brunch at a picnic table in the tournament area. Everyone can pick something up. If a mid afternoon, some family has a camping grill. Fire it up, potluck it out. This will work for ages up to U15 or so

I agree with this. I think having some activiites are a great way to bond for everyone. Can just be a meal, or something like bowling, apple picking later in fall, etc. If everyone is new to the team, maybe do more organized things like ice breakers, but generally just allowing time and space for connection to happen is enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember when kids on teams didn't need their parents to manufacture and orchestrate bonding?

Ok gramps. Is that also when a pack of chewing gum was a nickel and you walked uphill both ways to all your practices?

Missed the point mister intellect.

The parents getting together to gossip negativity while the kids who were forced to bond are on their phones isn't helping team bonding.

[Anonymous]

parents gather together with beer in hand to talk crap about other kids.

[Anonymous]

We have done meals and sometimes fun things like meals at a Dave and busters type place…