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The Gym & Field Playbook is your guide to creating high-quality physical activity spaces, by providing foundational practices to implement.
Playbooks are tools designed to help Club professionals create an Outcome-Driven Club Experience for youth in any physical space, time of the day, or Core Program Area of a Boys & Girls Club or Youth Center. A twist on a sport coach’s Playbook, this tool provides some key plays, or specific promising practices, you need to help create great experiences for youth at your Club or Youth Center.
All Playbooks are divided into five sections: Fundamentals, Plan, Do, Assess and Resources.
Fundamentals are the key components, ideas and standards you need to know.
Plan contains reusable tools to help you, with promising practices conveniently baked in.
Do gives you a variety of ideas to help put each Fundamental into practice right away.
Assess has a quick and easy self-assessment tool aligned to the Fundamentals to help you continuously improve.
Resources contains links to all the good stuff we couldn’t manage to fit into this Playbook. They are worth checking out if you want to dive deep into any particular topic.
Some sections in this Playbook may only need to be read once for understanding. Still other sections contain tools recommended for weekly or daily use. Below are some quick tips to get you started.
The Gym & Field Playbook was designed to be an entry point to creating high-quality physical activity spaces, by providing foundational practices to implement on a daily basis.
Typically, a Club or Youth Center program schedule is made up of standard blocks of time in particular spaces. All activities that occur in a space during one of those blocks of time is a session. A session may be dedicated to a High-Yield Activity or a targeted program. Planning time is essential to facilitate targeted program sessions and High-Yield Activities successfully.
Elements of a High-Quality Session: To ensure you implement high-quality youth development practices consistently, use the following elements to structure your targeted program sessions or High-Yield Activities.
 | Warm Welcome: A Warm Welcome is a transition. It’s a way to greet youth by name and thank them for coming to your program area or programming experience. |
 | Community Builder: A Community Builder is an icebreaker or team-building exercise, which builds trust and supportive relationships among youth and staff. |
 | Group Agreements: Group Agreements are behavioral expectations established by youth and adults. These agreements help to promote physical and emotional safety for everyone in the group. |
 | Main Activity: The Main Activity is the core content of a session, designed to help youth achieve the objective of a session through hands-on and interactive activities. |
 | Reflection: Reflection is an opportunity for youth to make meaning out of and express what they have learned, and identify how they can apply it in other areas of their lives. |
 | Recognition: Recognition is a way for you to recognize, acknowledge and encourage youth. Highlight specific behaviors and encourage them to continue behaving in ways that support their growth and development. Plan formal and informal ways to do this, and provide opportunities for youth to recognize one another. |
 | Closing and Transition: End each program rotation by engaging youth to put their materials away and clean up the program space. Be clear about where they are transitioning to next, and say a warm good-bye to build a sense of belonging, trust and relationships. |
These Elements of a High-Quality Session are essential for any program experience and should be included in your Gym and Field activities. Using these elements goes hand in hand with creating a fun environment where youth want to be physically active.
Throughout this Playbook, we will help you to understand how to use these elements to implement the fundamentals of physical activity programming inside the gym, on the field or on the playground. For more information to implement these elements, search for “Program Basics BLUEprint” on BGCA.net.
The gym and field space refers to any area used for Sports and Recreation programming, which could include a multipurpose room, playground or open outdoor area. In this Playbook, the terms “gym” and “field” are used interchangeably.
Unmaintained fields, cracked jump rope handles and wet gym floors can create physical safety hazards for youth. Competitive games that are exclusionary, bullying and youth disengagement can lead to and promote unsafe emotional environments. Unsafe environments jeopardize the positive experiences youth have in your programming space. With this Fundamental, you’ll learn tips to improve both physical and emotional safety in the gym and on the field. These include proactively building:
Appropriate sports, games, and activities will differ depending on the youth you serve and your staff-to-youth ratios. This Fundamental will help you select age-, skill-, and size-appropriate games and activities for your gym and field to:
As a youth development professional, you are responsible for creating a positive climate and designing engaging experiences that benefit young people. This Fundamental walks you through:
The gym and field have lots of equipment that make playing and skill-building fun. This Fundamental will help you:
Mixing up the sports and games you offer can keep youth engaged and moving. Give youth at every skill level the opportunity to discover new interests and get involved by rotating games and activities, trying new sports, and making new rules for familiar games. This Fundamental will help you:
Unmaintained fields, cracked jump rope handles and wet gym floors can create physical safety hazards for youth. Competitive games that are exclusionary, bullying and youth disengagement can lead to and promote unsafe emotional environments. Unsafe environments jeopardize the positive experiences youth have in your programming space. With this Fundamental, you’ll learn tips to improve both physical and emotional safety in the gym and on the field. These include proactively building:
Use the following tips to create a physically and emotionally safe space for youth.
1. Follow the Rule of Three. Require the presence of at least three people at all times in all areas. This includes in the gym and field and related areas such as restrooms, locker rooms, and equipment or storage rooms. The rule of three applies to all staff, volunteers, and youth to prevent abuse and make sure boundaries are respected.
2. Post expectations in the gym and on the field. Adults usually set expectations that speak to physical safety. Posting these expectations tells youth how you expect them to behave to keep everyone safe. Here are some examples.
3. Create Group Agreements. Staff and youth develop Group Agreements together. They describe behavioral expectations, often addressing emotional safety. Sample Group Agreements for the gym and field are:
For the full resource with worksheets and additional tools, go to BGCA.net/ClubClimate. Create Group Agreements together by discussing the answers to three questions.*
Question #1 – How do we want to feel while in the gym and on the field?
Question #2 – What will we do to feel this way every day?
Question #3 – What will we do when there is conflict?
4. Reframe conflict to keep youth safe and ensure they have a positive experience. Below are some ways to resolve youth conflicts.
5. Help youth learn how to calm down. There is often a lot happening in the gym and on the field. Within multiple activities, young people are learning how to participate, work as a team, and win and lose with grace. Emotions may escalate and youth can feel overloaded. Give them the tools, time and space they need to self-regulate.
6. Discover youths’ interests. Create positive relationships with them by showing a genuine interest in what they enjoy doing.
| *Adapted with permission from RULER Resource Materials. Copyright © 2013-2019 Yale University. All Rights Reserved. Please visit ycei.org for more information. |
Appropriate sports, games, and activities will differ depending on the youth you serve and your staff-to-youth ratios. This Fundamental will help you select age-, skill-, and size-appropriate games and activities for your gym and field to:
Use these tips to keep youth engaged and active during the Main Activity, one of the Elements of a High-Quality Session.
1. Manage groups in multiple activity areas. When implementing activities, consider your group size based on the table below. Then use the suggestions that follow to monitor and manage multiple groups engaged in different activities at the same time.
| Small Groups (10 or fewer youth) | Medium Groups (10-15 youth) | Large Groups (15-25 youth or more) |
|---|---|---|
| Keep rules and directions simple to level the playing field. | Provide options for individual modifications. | Have a range of activities, challenges or tasks around the space to choose from. |
| Switch up the equipment used to keep games interesting. | Set up multiple smaller playing areas with different modifications and equipment in each. | Play quick, small-sided tournaments where teams are changing opponents and byes are short. |
| Try games and activities that are less competitive and more cooperative. | Use small-sided games that adapt to a different number of players. | Have a volunteer, teen or group member be an assistant. |
2. Before youth go to their designated areas, do the following.
1. Introduce a group activity. Knowing how to lead an activity is important. DDADA – which stands for Describe It, Demonstrate It, Ask for Questions, Do It and Adapt It – is an effective technique to teach games and activities for all ages. DDADA has five steps.
2. Manage the space.
3. Listen to and encourage youth by doing the following.
4. Keep lines short with equipment-free side stations. Waiting in line is not fun. So shorten lines by adding more equipment or extra stations. Add brief activities to small spaces to keep youth moving. Make sure there is enough space to prevent collisions between youth and equipment. Here are some equipment-free activities to keep youth active and engaged.
5. Modify activities to ensure youth are engaged and having fun. Before you begin a sport, game or activity, think about the skill and confidence levels of your young people. Prepare at least one adaptation they can choose to use right away. Throughout the activity, ask how youth would like to modify the activity to feel more successful.
Wrap up.
As a youth development professional, you are responsible for creating a positive climate and designing engaging experiences that benefit young people. This Fundamental walks you through:
Establishing a consistent routine will help you implement the Elements of a High-Quality Session in the gym or on the field. Try the following attention getters, Community Builders, groupers and ways to recognize youth.
 | Warm WelcomeAttention Getters to Use Right Now: The gym can get chaotic and loud! Attention getters help you catch the attention of youth and ensure they are ready for the next set of instructions. Here are several examples. |
 | Community BuilderCommunity Builders to Use Right Now: Find some below to get you started. Find more Community Builders on the Staff Practices page of Club Programs. You can also find activities in the Playworks Game Library: playworks.org/game-library |
Going on a Picnic* Group Size: 3-30 Recommended Age Group: 6-12 | Instructions: Instruct the whole group to sit in a circle. Tell the group they are all going on a picnic and are responsible for bringing the food. Each person is to bring a food that begins with the first letter of their first name. Give an example of a food that begins with the same letter as your first name. Ask for a volunteer to say their name and what they are bringing to the picnic. (For example, “My name is Tara, and I’m bringing tacos.”) The next person introduces the person who went before them and their food choice. Then they introduce themselves and their food. The third person to go introduces the first two people and then themselves, and so on until everyone has played. |
Ha, Ha Group Size: 5-30 Recommended Age Group: Any | Instructions: Instruct the whole group to sit in a circle. Tell the players they should stay as serious as they can throughout the game. Pick one player to start the game by saying, “Ha!” once. The player standing next to him says the word “Ha!” twice. Following this pattern, the third player says, “Ha!” three times. As the game progresses, eliminate any players who laugh or make noise when it is not their turn. The player who avoids laughing throughout the game wins. |
Catch and Do Group Size: 5-30 Recommended Age Group: Any | Instructions: Get three balls and write eight action words on each (e.g., jump, hop, spin, clap, skip, dance, etc.). Have participants stand in a circle. Begin the game by tossing one ball to a young person. When the player catches the ball, they should perform the movement written on the ball that is closest to their thumb. The player should do the action word for five seconds. The player then tosses the ball to another participant and the process is repeated. After about 30 seconds, toss another ball to the group, and then a third ball. All three balls should be in play at the same time. The activity continues until all players have caught a ball and completed an action. |
I Love My Neighbor, Especially My Neighbor Who...* Group Size: 3-30 Recommended Age Group: 6-12 | Instructions: Position cones to form a circle, with one less cone than the number of participants. Tell participants to each stand at a cone. Have someone stand in the center of the circle and begin the game by saying, “I love my neighbor, especially my neighbor who ... ” This person will complete the sentence with a piece of information that is true for them. (E.g., “I love my neighbor, especially my neighbor who has a pet.”) As soon as this person finishes the statement, everyone this applies to (including the person in the center) should run to a cone that is not right next to them. The person left without a cone begins a second round of the game. |
SPLAT!* Group Size: 10-30 Recommended Age Group: 9-12 | Instructions: Have the group form a circle with one player in the middle. The player standing in the middle is the “splatter.” The splatter randomly points to someone and shouts “SPLAT!” The player pointed at must duck down; then the two players on either side of the ducker must “splat” each other by pointing at the other and yelling “SPLAT!” The last one to splat sits down and the player ducking stands back up. The game continues until there are two players left. Have them play rock, paper, scissors to determine who will be the new splatter in the middle. |
To the Right, to the Left Group Size: Any Recommended Age Group: Any | Instructions: Have youth gather in the center of the room. Tell them you will give two choices. They should move to the left or right depending on what they choose, but they cannot stand still. (Make sure the choices are age-appropriate.)
|
| *These activities have been adapted from games available on the Playworks Game Library. See the Resources section for a link to their game guide. |
 | Main ActivityGroupers to Use Right Now: Groupers allow youth to quickly get into teams and work with peers they may not naturally gravitate to. |
 | RecognitionWays to Give Recognition Right Now: Provide youth recognition for both big and small wins. |
Arrival/Departure Activities to Use Right Now: These activities are easy to set up and take down. Youth can start playing them with minimal help from youth development professionals.
The gym and field have lots of equipment that make playing and skill-building fun. This Fundamental will help you:
Use the tips below to effectively manage gym and field spaces and equipment.
1. Mix and match equipment and games. Small-sided games allow youth to get plenty of playing and skill-building time, but they may require more equipment than one large game. Try these tips to make small-sided games work in your gym.
2. Get creative with equipment. Not all equipment has to be specialized or name-brand. Using unconventional materials for equipment allows youth to try different games and sports while building new skills. Plus they can continue playing at home with similar materials. Here are some examples.
3. Create a system for youth to access, set up and return equipment. Help youth develop self-efficacy and learn to respect the environment by allowing them to independently access and return some equipment. But don’t forget to follow the Rule of Three, even in situations where you’re encouraging independence. A checkout system with a limited number of balls can reduce chances of injury from too much equipment being out on the court or field.
Mixing up the sports and games you offer can keep youth engaged and moving. Give youth at every skill level the opportunity to discover new interests and get involved by rotating games and activities, trying new sports, and making new rules for familiar games. This Fundamental will help you:
Use these tips to keep gym and field time engaging and exciting. To quickly get youth into teams for the games below, see Groupers to Use Right Now.
1. Learn about and feature popular sports. BGCA collaborates with national organizations to provide high-quality sport-specific resources. These popular sports are commonly played in Clubs and Youth Centers. Follow the links to access rules, activities, lesson plans, trainings and more.
2. Remix popular sports. There are many ways to change up the gameplay of popular sports. Consider including modified equipment, alternative rules, and Paralympic and adaptive options.
3. Remix classic games and activities. These remixed classics are great ways to refresh the games youth love, while introducing new challenges and skill-building opportunities.
4. Feature tournament formats. Using tournaments within your programming helps keep youth engaged in friendly competition. It is an easy way to give recognition to youth and teams. There are many different types of tournament formats, each with pros and cons. Be sure to change the format type and give youth leadership roles to help run the tournaments. See the example tournament styles below.
Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2-on-1 | 3-on-4 | 6-on-2 | 7-on-5 | 1-on-3 | 4-on-5 | 7-on-3 |
3-on-8 | 1-on-7 | 7-on-8 | 8-on-4 | 4-on-2 | 8-on-1 | 8-on-2 |
4-on-7 | 8-on-6 | 4-on-1 | 2-on-3 | 5-on-8 | 2-on-7 | 1-on-5 |
5-on-6 | 2-on-5 | 5-on-3 | 6-on-1 | 6-on-7 | 3-on-6 | 6-on-4 |
This format is the easiest to understand and conduct, though players are only assured of one match. If only seven teams play, one team would get a bye the first round.
This format allows every participant to play at least two matches and allows players a second chance.
Start by assigning every team (or individual) a ranking. You may assign these by random draw. The concept is that lower-ranked teams challenge equal or higher-ranked teams. As teams defeat other teams, they move up the bracket. The goal is to be in the first position when the tournament ends, at a predetermined time and date. This permits continuous competition without eliminating players/teams.
5. Provide guidelines for youth roles. Even when youth assume such roles, the Rule of Three must be followed. Ensure, for example, your equipment manager never goes to the locker room or equipment closet with fewer than two other people present. Use the table below to get started.
Role | Description | Responsibilities |
| Referee/Official | Makes sure all youth play within the game rules in the fairest way possible |
|
| Coach/Team Manager | Organizes groups/teams to help everyone do their best and have fun |
|
| Scorekeeper | Records the game results accurately |
|
| Timekeeper | Manages the game by keeping track of the time and any time-outs |
|
| Equipment Manager | Checks out, sets up and returns all equipment |
|
Help youth learn to use their skills in different ways, and provide meaningful leadership roles by asking the following questions.
Reviews
GL
Garreth Lynch
Review added on: 27 April 2023