How do you teach Spirit?

I helped deliver 10 workshops on Spirit of the Game in Colombia last year through Project Play Colombia. I had never done anything like it before, and the experience has now given me a lot more food for thought on how you would teach Spirit to a team or group of players.

Possible elements:

• practising how to learn the rules, through a role play of a scenario and then group discussion (either en masse or in pairs, then everyone)
• discussion of the players' interpretation and understanding of what Spirit is
• play a game with a prize at stake (or nominate an important game in the near future). Film the game, then watch the footage, discussing the calls made by both team
• give each player a rule to learn, and refer to them when a relevant call arises during a scrimmage
• discuss how you perceive your team's Spirit, and then bring in people external to the team (particularly rivals) for their perceptions

Some of these things can be done in a one-time event. However, like a lot of learning, many are best done on several occasions with the team or setting where you want to see it used.

Open Spirit winners of WUCC2006, Fakulti