poi poi!

My favorite GRS energizer is the Poi Poi (and no, I have no idea what that means). The set up for this energizer is pretty simple; a large circle with one person in the middle. And the words for this energizer are just as simple:

Person in the middle: Poi Pooiiiii!

Everyone else in the circle: Whodayyy Whoday!

Poi Pooiiiii!

Whodayyy Whoday!

Poi Pooiiiii!

Whodayyy Whoday!

*repeated as many times as the person in the middle desires*

Sister! (points to someone in the circle)

Step in!

Sister! (points to some else  in the circle)

Step in!

*repeated as many times as the person in the middle desires*

Poi Pooiiiii!

Whodayyy Whoday!

Poi Pooiiiii!

Whodayyy Whoday!

*repeated as many times as the person in the middle desires, but this time around the person in the middle does a lot of crazy moving/ dancing/ whatever you want to call it and everyone in the circle has to copy their every move*

Sister! (points to someone in the middle)

Step out!

Sister! (points to some else in the middle)

Step out!

*repeated until everyone has left the circle*

Hopefully you can see from the pictures why the Poi Poi is my favorite energizer. Coach Necy did a fantastic job leading this energizer at Skillz Street today. She had so many of the girls and coaches laughing so hard that they were practically crying. 

And yes, I am blogging about Skillz Street again. Because this is my last Skillz Street and because we have pretty much finalized the newest version of the program, I want to share with you - practice by practice - what exactly happens in Skillz Street.

Today was Practice 2: I am Beautiful. The first thing that girls do in this practice is create their own Body Maps. They are supposed to make a drawing of themselves exactly as they are; as Coach Mpho likes to say, "if you have hips draw your hips, if you have boobs, draw your boobs, and if you have bums, draw your bums and be proud!" Girls then star the parts of their body that they like the best. After completing their body maps, girls then identify two strengths they have and add symbols to represent these strengths (i.e. if you are a caring friend you could draw a heart). When all the girls have completed their Body Maps, they are given a chance to share them with their Team. Coaches then lead girls through a discussion about what it really means to be beautiful.

At the end of the discussion Coaches share the Practice's Key Messages with participants:

1. Each one of us is beautiful in our own way.
2. Each of us has strengths that make us special and unique.

To wrap everything up each girl is asked to complete the sentence, "I am beautiful because..." at the top of her body map. I love this practice. 

And that's not all - Practice 2 is also the first day that we introduce the girls to soccer. We start the introduction with a good old fashioned warm-up complete with jogging, side shuffles and karaoke, just like any youth team in the States would do. The only difference in Skillz Street is that these girls have never done these sorts of exercises.

Now imagine trying to teach your dog to karaoke. That what it is like trying to teach girls how to do these exercises. They just never quite get it right. And there is a lot of stumbling and bumping into each other, but there is a lot of laughter as well. 

Normally after the warm-up, it would be time for soccer. But the girls had so much fun doing the warm-up exercises that I made up a few more for them to try out. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.