Tail Tag

Alternative names: --

Objective: Having fun; getting some light agility practice; practice paying attention to those around you whilst paying attention to your own position and body

Typical length of drill: 5-10 mins

Materials needed: As many pieces of approximately 50 cm x 3 cm ribbon as there are skaters (the lengths of ribbon don't have to be store-bought, they can be made of cut-up t-shirts, cut-up plastic bags, or really anything that you can cut or craft into the approximate right length and width).  If you wish to play this game on the track then you will obviously also need a track, it is not a requirement though.

Skill level required: None really, though basic weaving and stopping skills are a definite plus

Description: Hand out a length of ribbon to each skater.  Each skater puts her/his ribbon into the back of her/his pants so that most of it is hanging out as a tail but so that it doesn't fall out on its own while the skater is going fast.  On the whistle everyone begins skating (and the coach should decide before starting the game whether everyone is going to be allowed to skate around in every which way they please like in a regular game of tag, or if everyone should be skating on the track in a particular direction).  The object of the game is to try and collect the tails of other skaters and not lose your own.  Every time you catch the tail of another skater you get to keep it in your hand.  You are not allowed to take tails from other skaters' hands, only pull them from the backs of their pants.  When you lose your tail to another skater you replace it with one of the collected tails in your hand.  Once you are out of collected tails and you lose the last tail out of your pants, you are out of the game.  The last skater (or last two skaters) left standing with all the tails, wins.

Additional notes: Yes, it's another drill based on a children's game, in case you couldn't tell :)  This one is also really fun to do off-skates during a league retreat or as a warm-up on an off-skates training day!

Lire cet exercice en français!