Junkyard Sports Tabletop Olympics

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Donald Chandler
5 years ago
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1 Junkyard Sports Tabletop Olympics $30

2 This game can take from 45 minutes to 2 hours to play. You can think of it as a team-building, spirit-raising, collaborative, creative problem-solving exercise, for 8 or 80 people, depending on how many tables and how much time you have. As a 45-minute event, it s an exercise in and demonstration of individual and collective creativity. As a 2-hour event, it s an opportunity to challenge and exercise, not only collective creativity, but also collective humor, resourcefulness, adaptability, flexibility.

3 Playing TableTop Junkyard Sports Olympics You will need enough tables so that people can stand or sit at each table in groups of 4-7. Their challenge: using whatever they can find in their pockets or backpacks or purses or elsewhere, each team must create a miniature, tabletop, Olympic-like event. If there is enough time, they should also create a fanfare to start the event, an official presentation of the rules, medals, and a presentation ceremony. What you are seeing in this photo on the right is one such event - the High Dive Ski- Jump. The Jumper/Diver (a.k.a. "quarter") is being coached to roll between the two blockish objects (hence kept on edge, so to speak), down the notebook-like ramp, hopefully to land in the glass of water. Yes, some points were awarded for hitting the glass or chair, even. A second team-member, the Jumper/Diver retriever, stood off camera, waiting to catch the rolling quarter before it reached the floor, for that critical extra point. The High Dive Ski-Jump is, as you have so intuitively grasped, but one of a minor Olympic myriad of tabletop, perhaps even coin-operated events that one could create. Here is on the left is yet another Junkyard Sports Tabletop Olympic Event an event we might call the High Cup Jump, wherein one is challenged to toss a coin, using only one s forefingers, into any one of the three cups. Naturally, getting a coin into the shortest

and closest cup (in this case, cap), would be worth the least points, but at least there are points, whilst trying to get the coin into the highest and furthest could everso easily result in a

4 and closest cup (in this case, cap), would be worth the least points, but at least there are points, whilst trying to get the coin into the highest and furthest could everso easily result in a pointless and psychically painful over-throw. There are many sports to draw on. Officially, there are the Summer Sports of Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoe / kayak, Cycling, Horsing-around, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, and Wrestling and the Winter Sports: Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Curling, Ice Hockey, Luge, Skating, and Skiing. The option to create an entirely new event, like the much-deserved Olympic Croquet, for example, is to be encouraged, promoted and otherwise invited. Such a game has in fact been played in at least one previous Junkyard Sports Tabletop Olympic event - with many coins and paperclips and things, simultaneously, in the round. In a similar vein, there should be a standing invitation to combine events to create something entirely new, like, perhaps, something similar to bobsled slalom, only played with things like: a pencildriven lipstick tube, a paper wad and folded business cards.

The 45-minute event People stand around tables, in groups of 4-7. demonstrate its event. Each group is challenged to create a tabletop Olympic event (see above for more) in 10 minutes or less.

5 The 45-minute event People stand around tables, in groups of 4-7. demonstrate its event. Each group is challenged to create a tabletop Olympic event (see above for more) in 10 minutes or less. They then have about 25 minutes for each team to After all have been demonstrated, allow an additional 10 minutes to discuss. Focus on how people experienced the dialogue between individual and collective genius (how each group made use of the different ideas the participants had to offer) and the individual and collective resources (how each individual brought with him or her a unique collection of stuff and how the group made use of it). Be sure to note (photograph, discuss, applaud) the variety of solutions the groups were able to create, and their abilities to adapt, coordinate, produce. There is an unavoidable tension between individual contributions (here manifest as resources ) and the collective uses of those contributions. Certain elements of the design of the activity (humor, clarity of goals and limits, the novelty of the challenge) serve to ameliorate this tension. If the time is right, conversation identifying these elements and their equivalents in the workplace, can lead to some penetrating insights.

The two-hour event Schedule overview: 30 minutes preparation 45 minutes play 15 minutes rehearsal, finale (parade) 30 minutes debrief Each team gets 30 minutes to: create its event, its flag, its

6 The two-hour event Schedule overview: 30 minutes preparation 45 minutes play 15 minutes rehearsal, finale (parade) 30 minutes debrief Each team gets 30 minutes to: create its event, its flag, its torch, its language, enough silver, bronze and gold medals for every Olympian,* its own Olympic-like medal-awarding ceremony (fanfare, award ceremonies, pomp), and to select people to play in one of three different roles: Athlete, Judge, Interpreter. Since every table/nation has its own language (gibberish), one player needs to act as Interpreter, translating into the common tongue. Other players get chosen to be Athletes (one Athlete for every 3 people at the table). Each Athlete carries his team s torch-like thing and competes in the other events, hoping to achieve yet another medal (gold, silver, bronze). Finally there are the judges the people who stay behind to, well, judge. Judges determine who gets what medal, and also preside over the awards ceremonies. Athletes may return at any time to their home teams and pass the torch to another team member. The competition lasts 45 minutes. Except for the Interpreter, the people remaining at their table-oforigin act as judges, awarding medals for each athlete s performance. Gold is worth 3 points, Silver 2, and Bronze 1 point. When the allotted competition time has ended, Athletes return to their tables to determine their collective score. The three highest-scoring tables (whose Athletes brought home the highest-valued medals), declare themselves winners.

Pumping the Pomp Table/Nations then all practice or create their language, their national anthem and gala Olympic-like, flag-waving, torch-and-banner-carrying march formation.

Athletes in the lead). When a table is passed, it joins the march singing its own national anthem in its own national language. General, and often very funny bedlam ensues.

7 Pumping the Pomp Table/Nations then all practice or create their language, their national anthem and gala Olympic-like, flag-waving, torch-and-banner-carrying march formation. When the 10 minutes have elapsed, a march begins, led by the three winning teams, in winning order, around the tables (winning order also applies to the order of each table s march highest scoring Athletes in the lead). When a table is passed, it joins the march singing its own national anthem in its own national language. General, and often very funny bedlam ensues. After everyone has joined the march, the team in the lead sits down as soon as it passes its table, the next team leads everyone to its table, and then sits, etc, etc, until everyone is seated. Reserve the last half-hour to debrief. In addition to the debriefing points described in the 45-minute variation, this version introduces both competition and the collaborative creation of Pomp and even Circumstance. (There is some meaningless but consistent motivation for people to want to win and no matter how hard you try, there will always be people who need to debrief losing.) In addition to being fun, it invites the engagement of yet other aspects of the collective creativity making up music and songs and marches together engages team and individual beyond the confines of competitive game, into a world of what one might call collaborative performance of such celebratory mayhem that participants inevitably discover that having fun together is at least as fun as winning. Debriefing easily exposes the shared attributes of all aspects of the experience that of trying to win and fearing to lose, of being part of a winning or losing team; of the experience of being a sole Athlete and that of being part of a team, that of player and that of maker, that of performer and that of co-creator.

8 *You might want to buy packages of Lifesavers to use as medals and some yarn to function as ribbons (maybe multicolored yarn). If you get a bag of Lifesavers (the candies are a bit larger) you ll get about 20 candies in green, yellow, red, purple and orange. Use orange for the Gold Medal, yellow for Silver and red for Bronze, and the rest of the candies for various Olympic-like events. You ll probably want three bags full, as it were, for each table.

9 More Junk Any junk in the room should be considered fair game, so to speak. If you re playing at a conference, for example, after breakfast, say, you could easily find yourself with tables full of erstwhile junk cups, glasses, spoons all kinds of delightfully supplemental grist for the group mill. Many are the reasons add your own stockpile of inspirational junk to the public weal. For example: Musical instruments (simple ones that you don t really have to know how to play, like kazoos, nose flutes, slide whistles, tambourines, triangles) Stickers, tape, glue and other sticky things Other things to make medals out of: sticky dots of different colors, coins, washers, buttons, nametags and markers Straws, stirrers, cups, napkins Stopwatches, rulers, tape measures Cameras (digital still and video)

Tube Roll Bicycle Slalom Double-Thumb-Flung Quarter High Throw Penny

10 Sample Junkyard Sports Table Top Olympic Events Spoon-catapulted Sugar Pack Shot Put Candy-Wrapper Helmet Thumb Wrestling Double Lipstick Tube Roll Bicycle Slalom Double-Thumb-Flung Quarter High Throw Penny Hockey Credit-Card Slide Hockey Napkin Wrestling Hand Sledding Finger Skating

11 Once everyone is seated, present the teams with the debriefing questions below. Each team then discusses these questions together. Stop the debriefing after 20 minutes. On a flip chart or projected computer, compile all the things to remember for later distribution. Debriefing How did humor, clarity of goals and limits, and the novelty of the challenge contribute to making the game fun? How do these contribute to making the workplace successful? What was the fun of each of these experiences: creating the event, competing for medals, creating and participating in the closing ceremonies? Discuss each of these experiences as they relate to the game, and to the workplace: trying to win and fearing to lose being part of a winning or losing team representing your team working with your team to design the event working with your team to design the ceremony Make a list of three things to remember Bernie DeKoven, 2007, 2008 all rights reserved

These cross-curriculum activities contribute to the achievement of the following:

These cross-curriculum activities contribute to the achievement of the following: LEVEL Upper primary LONDON 2012 SPORTS DESCRIPTION In these activities, students learn about the sports to be played at London 2012. They explore aspects including rules, equipment and game play be researching