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Using games and drama to explore Christian sporting values

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Introduction

The New Testament writers of the Bible used the imagery of sporting competition to explore what the journey of faith was like for Christians. At Barnabas in Schools, we've created a programme of drama and storytelling based on this, to help schools explore five key Christian ideas connected to sporting endeavours. These are Dedication, Discipline, Determination, Dependence and Decoration. They're all significant for sport, but they also have a wider application. The following idea brings together a number of simple warm-up activities, team games and drama activities that can be used to explore them with your pupils.

Preparation

Most of the following suggestions need few or no props. They are divided up according to which Christian idea they best introduce.

You will need to choose the most appropriate activities to suit the age, ability and maturity of the children in your class. In school, all physical activities involve an element of risk, so only you, the teacher, can decide the most appropriate activities for your pupils. Most of them will need enough clear floor space to allow for some safe running around, such as a school hall.

You may find it useful to obtain or make a traditional five-ring Olympic flag on which to display symbols of the '5Ds' as you introduce them. These could be:

Dedication - water in a clear glass bottle or a baptismal candle (symbols of Christian baptism), a team shirt

Discipline - a stopwatch,a team coach's whistle, an open Bible, a cross

Determination - dark glasses (blindness), a small globe (for overcoming the world), a sweat band

Dependence - an artist's jointed model of the human body (working as one), a relay baton

Decoration - a sporting medal or even a simple 'crown' made of ivy or a similar climbing plant.

For more on this, see Reflective story on the Christian life with a sports theme.

Development

General warm-up activities for all ages (4 - 11 year olds)

a. High-energy warm-up: get the children to mime different events from the original Greek games: running races, the marathon, chariot racing, extreme wrestling (known as pankration), throwing the javelin or discus. This could be done to music - for example, 'Sabre dance' by Khachaturian or something similar.

b. Set the class off around the room miming various modern Olympic sports. Call out different sports and then freeze the action to create an Olympic statue park of competitors. Include team events as well so that the children have to get into groups to do the mimes.

c. The Christian race is run every day, not just every four years, and every day Christians believe that they hear God saying 'On your marks, get set, go!'. Play a game using these commands where:

On your marks = stay frozen to the spot

Get set = move in slow motion

Go = running at top speed on the spot

Vary the order rapidly for fun!

Christians believe they get 'on their marks' by saying sorry to God; they 'get set' by saying 'yes' to his rules; and they 'go' by following the example of Jesus. This is the way they put God first and the way they believe everyone can be a winner.

General warm-up activities for older children (8 - 11 year olds)

a. Divide the class into five roughly equal groups. Show them the five Olympic rings. Challenge them first to make themselves into the five circles; then to arrange themselves into five interlocking circles; and finally to get the circles rotating in and out of each other. This is a team event!

b. Select some children to compete in a few ancient Greek games (see examples below). Also select a judge for each event to make sure the rules are kept.

Javelin throwing: use big straws weighted at the ends with some tissues.

Discus throwing: use paper plates.

Chariot racing: create a chariot and rider with two children in the front as the horses and a rider behind who places one hand on the shoulder of each horse. Can they stay in time and together around a simple course?

Poetry competition: using pen and paper, challenge two teams to come up with as many words as possible rhyming with 'sing' in 30 seconds.

Team games and drama activities for each of the Christian ideas

Dedication - joining the team

a. The first Christians, like the Olympians, believed that the most important thing was to be on the team... Jesus' team. Link this to the way Jesus called his disciples (Matthew 4:18 - 22 and other passages). For more on this, see Dedication - joining the team .

Set the class off walking around the room and then get them to freeze. Now give them a number. They must try and get into a team of that number as quickly as possible.

b. In groups of five or six, ask the children to work together as a team to form a joined-up statue of people all doing something together, or create a team shape (for example, a star, a cube, a pyramid and so on).

Discipline - keeping on track

a. The first Christians, like the Olympians, believed that the next important thing was to follow the rules... God's rules for life: loving God and loving others (our neighbour) as we love ourselves (Mark 12:28 - 31). Link this to the Bible's ten best ways to live - the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).

Younger children (4 - 7 year olds): Play a version of 'Simon says' to emphasise the importance of following directions.

Older children (8 - 11 year olds): What does the word 'discipline' mean? It comes from the old word 'disciple', which means someone who follows and copies their leader, even when the going gets tough.

Ask the children to imagine they’ve been asked to join a sports team. If the team coach demanded it, would they be prepared to...? Call out these actions or similar:

Pupil responses

So what marks out a real team member? Open this up for discussion. A real team member supports the team even when it's hard work, or things aren't going well. He/she is prepared to learn from the leader and copy them as much as possible.

Determination - not giving up

a. Explain that the first Christians, like the Olympian athletes, believed that they needed to keep going and not give up. One group of people who know a lot about determination are those who are disabled by being partially sighted, or completely blind. Link this to the Bible story of Jesus meeting blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46 - 52). For more on this, see Determination - not giving up.

Divide the class into pairs, and each pair into person A and person B. Explain that they're going to take turns at being 'blind', by closing their eyes. The person who is not 'blind' has to describe what they see to the other person, who can (if you wish) ask questions to clarify the description. Then allow the 'blind' to open their eyes to see how well the verbal description they were given matched the image building up inside their heads. Then swap over and let the other person do this again with a different picture. As an extension activity, the 'blind' person could try to draw their mental image on scrap paper before the original picture is revealed.

The two pictures should be from the story of blind Bartimaeus. You can search for these on Google and either print them off to use with pairs of children or display on a large SMART board.

b. Play an 'in and out' drama game in which the children create statues of the feelings from the story of blind Bartmaeus (i.e. loneliness, fear, anger, frustration, surprise and so on).

Dependence - supporting each other

The first Christians, like Olympian athletes, believed that they needed each other's help to win (coach, trainer, physiotherapist and so on), similar to the way in which different parts of a body work together to function as one unit. Link this to Paul's analogy of the church functioning in the same way as a single human body (1 Corinthians 12:12 - 31). There are also stories showing how much the first Christians supported each other - see Dependence - Peter's escape from prison.

a. Set up a challenge for two equally matched children. They must both hold part of the same rubber ring, standing between two plates each with three sweets on. They will have 30 seconds to collect as many sweets as they can. Don't say it is a competition. Let them assume it. Afterwards, ask why they didn't take turns to go together from one plate to the other - or if they did, then praise them for thinking first! Explain that the object of this game was not actually to beat the other person but to see how you solved the problem. Life is not necessarily about beating others and being better than others. It could be about finding ways for us to support each other - such as encouraging your team mates.

b. Play one of the following team games to emphasise the importance of encouraging each other as you compete, and the fun of just taking part and enjoying it.

Decoration - finishing the race, winning the prize

The first Christians, unlike Olympian athletes, believed that everybody is rewarded by God. This is similar to the London Marathon and other competitions where everybody receives a medal. Link this to Paul's image of the victorious athlete receiving recognition from the ultimate judge (2 Timothy 4:6 - 8).

a. Get the class to pretend to run the London Marathon and all finish in different ways. This could be done to appropriate music.

b. Classroom reflection: Get the class to create a simple design of five interwoven circles, perhaps using coloured card, tissue paper or ribbon. Use the colours of the five rings to reflect on their feelings linked to the Olympics... the values... and who comes first? This could be done as a class activity with post-it notes on a large display area or learning wall, or it could be done individually. Can they find an interesting way to record some of the following based on what they did in the session?

c. Assembly or collective worship: Ask if everyone is ready for a game, drama or story. Introduce a Bible box containing the following items:

Drape the flag around either yourself or a child and 'celebrate a winner'! Link this to the Olympics.

Ask what their favourite sports are. Get each year group to stand up and mime one sport. Or get some children to come to the front and mime sports like weight-lifting and so on.

Next, introduce some of the official Olympic values such as Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Courage, Determination, Equality. Select six children and/or staff to represent each of these values as an action - for example: bowing; punching of the air; holding hands out in welcome; holding fists to chest and looking brave; looking to the winning tape; becoming a human scales balancing equal invisible weights. Link this to the rings on the flag and get everyone to link-up arms. What a combination! What an Inspiration! (Inspiration is another official Olympic value.)

But where do we get inspiration? Christians believe that the Bible is a book full of stories of inspiration from God. I wonder what these stories might say about the Olympic values? What can we learn if we bring the flag and the book together?

Tell a Bible story that inspires Christians today and helps them know 'who comes first'. For ideas, see Who comes first? Seven values and the Bible. Alternatively, you could tell one of the modern stories from the classroom resource book for teachers Who Comes First?

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