Introduction

Outdoor fitness is more than just press-ups, sit-ups and squats; the same is also true of military and military-style fitness. Recreational training can play an important role in the physical and mental development of individuals and groups.

Aim

The aim of recreational training is to stimulate the group mentally and physically to improve:

• Speed;
• Agility;
• Endurance;
• Co-ordination; and
• Team spirit.

Recreational training caters for those who do not play any major games and helps to improve the ones that do.

Organisation

If you are organising a large competition for your own members or for the fitness community at large, then there will be a range of issues to consider when developing recreational training.

The most common form of recreational training, however, is minor team games, which could be organised as part of a physical training period.  Some of the topics requiring some consideration include:

• Ascertain the numbers taking part and arrange the group into small teams.
• Arrange the competition programme.
• Prepare the equipment and set up the venue.
• Transport and car parking.
• Detail and brief officials.
• Prepare a scoreboard.
• Prepare the order of draw.
• Prize giving and publishing results.
• Changing area and refreshments.
• Arrange for medical cover.

Minor Team Games

Minor team games are generally run on a league system and if organised correctly, have good recreational value.  Good planning and preparation is vital before the competition commences to ensure it runs smoothly.

Examples of Minor Team Games

Some examples of some minor team games are:

• Softball.
• Sitting volleyball.
• Sitting handball.
• Ring a stick.
• Bucketball.
• Swedish longball.

The Scoring System

The game to be played should be thought out, a very high scoring system would result in too many stops and starts, whereby a very low scoring system game could produce problems when producing results.

Points are normally awarded for each game played as follows:

• 3 points for a win.
• 2 Points for a draw.
• 1 Point for a lose.

In the event of a tie on points, the team, which has scored the most goals or points will decide the final position.  If it still remains a draw, it then goes to the team that have conceded the least amount of goals or points.

The Draw

A simple system for producing the draw is shown in Table 1. Using this method a clockwise rotation is used.

Table 1: The draw
1st Session	2nd  Session	3rd Session
1 v 2 3 v 4	1 v 3 4 v 2	1 v 4 2 v 3

Notice that the team in the top left corner remains in the same place, with the other teams rotating around clockwise one place each time.  If there is an odd number of teams a zero is placed opposite number 5 which will indicate a bye for that team.

Results Board

A league results board for a Minor Team Games competition should be drawn up as shown in Table 2. When filling out a league table, enter the score at the top of the relevant box with the results (W,D,L).  This is to assist with working the results out, as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Results board
Team	A	B	C	D	Win	Draw	Lose	Total Points	Final Place
A		4-6 L	2-2 D	1-0 W
B	6-4 W
C	2-2 D
D	0-1 L