Fun and Engaging Games for Basketball Camp: Keeping the Spirit Alive Off the Court

Want to try and get more of your players to improve their skills at camp.Well, here are some fun games for campers to do off the court, and some fun ways for them to get better at the skills they have. 

Relay Races 

Relay races are a fun way to get your campers to learn how to work together. With relay races, you pair up various campers together into teams, and then start with different drills.  The goal is to focus on getting each element from one location to the net. 

The purpose of relay races isn’t just trying to get campers engaged to win, but also to build trust in their teammates. 

Swimming 

Swimming and swimming games are fun team building activities. 

They’re good not just for physical health, but there are plenty of games you can play in the water.   The spirit is kept alive, and there are tons of fun swimming games to try. With swimming, everyone can participate, and it can be a fun way to build other skills too. 

Alien invasion 

Alien invasion is a unique team building game.   Everyone’s been captured by an alien, and they’ll be released if the egg is dropped without breaking the eggs. The aliens are some of the campers, and they are either paralyzed or deaf, where they can’t cry out to others. 

To do this, you want to play with different groups, where everyone’s separated into different groups, noisy, quiet, and blindfolded, with a 4:4:2 ratio to them 

Noisy people don’t get to talk and aren’t able to help with the egg. But they can use body language to explain how to protect the egg. The quietest people can only talk, but the blindfolded ones can talk and most.   Separate these three so they’re not near each other, but they can communicate still. 

To start, have the noisy people give ideas with body language. 

Quiet people will speak but aren't able to help with that egg directly, and they can tell which person is wrapping the egg, and what to do. 

The blindfolded people wrap the egg, but they can’t see what they’re exactly doing. However, the quiet people give instructions. 

For this, the goal is to get the egg, and from there, try to get it where it needs to go.  Play for up to 30 minutes. 

Once you’re done, ask them what they learned. This is an exercise in teamwork and shows how one can communicate without using just words. 

Campfire Stories 

Campfire stories are a great way for basketball campers to build trust and understanding of their teammates. 

Everyone sits down, and the player offers a story about themselves.   The team listens, and at the end, you can develop questions about the story mentioned. 

With campfire stories, players learn about the other one they’re working with, fostering better understanding of the different struggles people have. 

Trust Falls 

Finally, trust falls. Trust falls are where two players are paired. One of them falls, but the other one will catch them. 

Obviously, you don’t want them to fall. If they fall, they will lose.  Try to have the one falling under a mat. 

The goal is to have the players learn to rely on others, especially if they have issues with learning to trust each other. 

Basketball camps are a great way to learn skills, and you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes when you master this. set them up and give campers new ways to better learn and understand each other.