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Exercises/Reflection and Learning/Ultimate Football
Team Reflection · Reflection and Learning

Ultimate Football

Ultimate Football is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
Low cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Learning Transfer This reflection and learning exercise strengthens Learning Transfer, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. On the leader’s signal, the team starting on defense throws or kicks the ball (depending on skill level) to the offensive team.
  2. One player from the offense either catches the ball or picks it up where it lands, and tries to pass it to one of his/her teammates.
  3. The offense tries to advance the ball down the field with passes, and scores a point if one of the team members catches the ball in the end zone.
  4. The defense tries to block or knock down the ball during a pass to gain possession.
  5. The defense must stay a step back from the offensive player and may not touch that person.
  6. If a ball is knocked down or intercepted, play of the game is switched and the defense now becomes the offense, heading toward their end zone.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

One player from the offense either catches the ball or picks it up where it lands, and tries to pass it to one of his/her teammates.

The defense tries to block or knock down the ball during a pass to gain possession.

The defense must stay a step back from the offensive player and may not touch that person.

If a ball is knocked down or intercepted, play of the game is switched and the defense now becomes the offense, heading toward their end zone.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Ultimate Football. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: One player from the offense either catches the ball or picks it up where it lands, and tries to pass it to one of his/her teammates.; The defense tries to block or knock down the ball during a pass to gain possession.; The defense must stay a step back from the offensive player and may not touch that person.; If a ball is knocked down or intercepted, play of the game is switched and the defense now becomes the offense, heading toward their end zone.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Playworks; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Playworks.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with