Activity 5.1.1 All for One, and One for All

Purpose

To foster teamwork, leadership, and the energy required to win

Materials

None

Time

15–20 mins

Method

1. Facilitators will divide the class into two teams. Try to ensure that physical size and ability are as even as possible, between the two groups.
2. Have the two teams select a team name and team captain. Each team should determine their own cheer and say it loudly to the rest of the class to generate the spirit and energy required for the task.
3. Inform participants that they are about to play a game that requires silence and teamwork. The two teams should line up facing each other. The team captains should be the last person in each line.
4. To begin, the team players are lined up side by side so that when they extend their arms out from their sides (shoulder height), they slightly touch the fingertips of their own team player. There is absolutely no talking from this point on.
5. Ask participants to now lower their arms, and to take this task seriously keeping a poker-face demeanour as best they can. It might help to stare straight ahead past the other team’s faces.
6. When the facilitator says “GO”, the team players are to raise their arms out from their sides (not above or below their shoulders) and maintain this position for as long as possible.
7. The first person to lower his or her arms causes the team to lose the game. Team players can support each other by using their fingertips only. There is to be NO TALKING.

Questions for discussion:

1. What kept you from lowering your arms when it began to hurt?
2. Did you feel you were a good team member or a poor one? Why?
3. Were you satisfied by your team’s performance?
4. How did the team captain help the team or not help the team perform?
5. Does teamwork require cooperation or effort? Why is this an important life skill?