Team Games

A team is more than a group of people in the same place. A real team is people who choose to help each other, cheer for each other, and work toward the same goal — together. The SEL skills you have been building all year are exactly what make a team work.

The four pillars of great teamwork

• Communication — share your ideas, listen when others speak, and check that everyone understands.
• Encouragement — cheer for your teammates, especially when things get hard. Say "You've got this!" or "Great try!"
• Fair play — follow the rules, take turns, and accept the outcome with grace — whether you win or lose.
• Cooperation — put the team's goal above your own. Ask "How can I help?" rather than "What do I get?"

Winning, losing, and everything in between

• Winning feels great — celebrate it without putting the other team down.
• Losing is hard — but it is also how we learn. A gracious loser says "Good game" and means it.
• The best part of a team game is often not the score — it is the feeling of working together.

Everyone has a role

• Great teams use every person's strengths. One person might be fast, another might be a great planner, another might cheer loudest.
• No role is too small. Encouragement from the sideline matters just as much as a winning move.