Hardest Workout

On Wednesday night, we faced a battle with the lightning alarms. They had gone off shortly before practice, but since the weather seemed OK, we waited to see if the alarm would clear. By the time it did, we were left with a core of 10 kids. We often play a game which we refer to as "The Chase Game," and taht was on the agenda for the night. This was our last regular workout prior to our intrasquad meet and ice cream party on Friday which would finish off our season.

To play the chase game, we set up a square with cones and station two teams of kids at opposite corners. The teams start running at the same time and in the same direction. The idea is to catch your opponent's runner. I'd wanted to try the chase game with a group of 8, as I felt the 20 or so that we usually had playing gave too much rest to the kids. Here was the chance I'd wanted. We also had a problem with runners taking off before the tag. As we were about to begin, an idea struck me, the kids always seem to like using the baton in relays, why not use the baton to avoid the cheating problem. It worked like a charm. The kids ran themselves virtually to exhaustion and learned to make good baton passes, too! It was probably the hardest workout of the season. While the benefits were not going to be meaningful this year, we learned an improved version of the game that will benefit our kids next year.