5 Team-Building Activities to Enjoy With Your High School Sports Teams
Imperial Point2023-10-02T20:51:19+00:00Building trust, openness, and camaraderie between your athletes off the field is vital to enhancing their performance on the field during practice and games. If they don’t trust each other as friends, they aren’t going to communicate effectively and collaborate well as teammates. Incorporate team-building exercises into your team’s practice and social outings to strengthen your athletes individually and as a team.
Here are 5 fun ideas to help your players hone their communication skills, learn to trust their teammates, and enjoy a laugh or two with one another.

Hot dog tag
Heads up, this one is a bit silly, but it’ll get your team laughing with each other and offers a mental break between school and practice, so it’s a great warm up activity. It’s just like normal tag, but when a player is tagged, he or she must lie on the ground until two teammates lie down on either side of the tagged player and all three yell “hot dog!” in unison. Change the person who’s tagging other players every five minutes or so to keep it interesting.
Perk: You can alter this game to any version of tag your team prefers. Hot dog tag is fun because it’s silly, but freeze tag and other variations are still a great way to encourage your team to have fun together.
Highs and lows
Have your team take turns individually sharing a “high” and a “low” from the week. These can be as silly or as serious as each player feels comfortable sharing. For example, a high might be, “I did better than I expected on my math test.” A low might be, “I left my lunch at home and had to eat cafeteria food.” As your team gets more comfortable with each other, these conversations may get more serious, but also more beneficial to your players.
Volunteer together
Serving your community together is a great way to encourage your team to look out not just for one another, but for their communities. Talk to your team and see what they’re interested in, or choose from these suggestions:
- Food banks
- Animal shelters
- Mentoring/tutoring programs
- Community clean up events
- Host a sports camp for a younger team
- Have a car wash and donate the money raised to a local charity
Sign up for an escape room
Take your team to a local escape room. Depending on the size of your team, you may need to split into multiple groups and each go through a different room or course, but this is a fun, exciting way to help your team communicate with each other and hone their problem solving skills together.
Let them help design their uniforms.
Flex your team’s creative skills, problem-solving skills, and communication skills by asking them to help you design their uniforms. Not only will this help them feel included and valued, but learning to accept each other’s ideas, make suggestions, and compromise until you have a design that the whole team will be proud to sport on game day is an excellent way to build skills that will help them on the field, in class, and at work.
For uniforms that are durable, comfortable, and made right here in the USA, partner with Imperial Point. Your players will love how they look and feel, and you’ll love knowing that no matter how much they’re stretched, yanked, stepped on, wadded up, and worn out, you’ll never have to deal with repairs or replacements mid-season.
Once you have a design in mind, use our online custom uniform designer to customize your team’s sublimated uniforms.
Remember, teamwork is vital on and off the field, so planning events and activities that help your players connect with one another more personally helps them grow both as athletes and young adults. What are some of your favorite team-building exercises?
This article was written or reviewed by Robert Fazioli, owner of Imperial Point, to ensure its authenticity and accuracy. Learn more about us!
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