Don’t Just Sit on the Sidelines, Jump Into the Game!

With Superbowl Sunday just weeks away, party planning for the event begins now.  There is no better time to put our commitment to our community and our fitness into action than by hosting our first party. This blog entry will be divided into two parts, each pertaining to your Superbowl party (of course which can be modified to a variety of party types).  In this entry, we will focus on physical and bonding activities that foster a lasting impression of people and build relationships.  After all, most parties we attend are centered around food and individuals or small groups milling about.  When you add activities, you create shared experiences that facilitate group interaction. For your party, you have a couple of options.  You can host the party at your house, find a free room at a restaurant, bowling alley, sports bar, church, temple, etc., or if you live somewhere warm like I do, and someone has a television they can hook up outside, host the party at a park or your dock! Once you have your location, you will want to send out invitations. I suggest a potluck party.  Potlucks are becoming de rigueur one, I think because we all want to show of our cooking skills (ha!), and two, there’s a recession going on!  This is a way to share recipes and encourage people to test their hands at healthy and delicious cooking.  For our Superbowl party, we are putting it to everyone to show off their salad skills in our, Superbowl Salad Party (recipes will follow next week)! Your invitation can include a “practice” or “warm up” time which can be used to host a boot camp, football practice, or obstacle course type workout. You can assign everyone a certain exercise to bring to this portion of the party or you can organize it yourself.  This pre-party party can be thought of as your “Turkey Trot”. During your party, of course, you can have each team do push ups for every touch down that the other team scores.  You can invent cheers (in 3 minutes or less), play hot potato (even on the couch) using a football, and it’s certainly no stretch of the imagination to encourage jumping jacks, burpees, or high knees during the commercials.  If you’ve made it absolutely clear that this party is taking on the look and FEEL of a football game and practice and that activity is part and parcel of the party, you’ll get a lot of participation and a lot of laughs.  After the game, time how fast the team can clean the tables and the house, the pavilion, the hall, or wherever you are and then head out for a game of touch football! You may never remember who won the big game but you will always remember the big game!  Check back next week for recipes, ideas for keeping your party green, and the benefits of team work.  Until then, keep jumping! In health, JumpSport