KEY INFORMATION

Recommended age group: 11–14
Time required: one 45–60 minute session
Equipment: What makes an effective team activity sheet, Celebrating Rio presentation.


ACTIVITY IDEA

  1. Share the Celebrating Rio assembly slides with the whole group / class. Alternatively, you could also use the Teamwork at the Winter Games presentation.
  2. Discuss the different teams featured on the slides and how their role is critical to the success of the Games and to the performance of the athletes hoping to compete in them.
  3. Using the headings from the ‘What makes an effective team?’ activity sheet, ask the students what they think makes an effective team – what do they consider to be the key ingredients (e.g. an agreed team goal, specific, clearly defined roles and responsibilities that are carried out to deadline, shared values, respect for the opinions and ideas of individuals within the team, etc)?
  4. Ask the students to relate times when they have been part of a successful and happy team (e.g. as a winning school sports team, a group of volunteers or even a group of friends planning a day out) and share ideas about what made it work so well. When might things go wrong?
  5. Talk through the example of an effective team, given on the ‘What makes an effective team?’ activity sheet.
  6. In small groups, students then fill in their own template choosing either to investigate another team preparing for the Olympic or Paralympic Games – or a team of their own, in preparation to complete a specific team task, such as the ‘Dance yourself fit with Rio!’ challenge.

DIFFERENTIATION

With younger or less able students use the example model provided on the ‘What makes an effective team?’ activity sheet, or prepare data about another team your students might know about, or be interested in, and help them to fill in the template. If they are using the template for their own team, for example in preparation for the ‘Dance yourself fit with Rio!’ challenge they can fill in the template as a group.

Older or more able students can work in small groups to research another team of their choice, researching and gathering information to complete the ‘What makes an effective team?’ activity sheet template independently. Encourage them to add their own ideas.

EXTENSION

Encourage the students to use the template when they next plan to work as a team on a school or community-based project, which they could do as a PE option or in their own time for fun and fitness.