Monday, March 21, 2011

Hot Dog Chase

Alternative names: Hot Dog Tag
Objective: To get warmed up; team-building; to have fun
Typical length of drill: 10 minutes
Materials needed: A big space to run in (this can be played both indoors and outdoors)
Skill level required: None
Description: This is an easy and fun variation on a regular game of tag.  Choose one person to be IT -- s/he is going to be running around trying to tag all the other skaters.  Each time a skater gets tagged, s/he becomes a sausage and has to lay down on her/his back on the floor and wait to be rescued.  For the sausage to be rescued two other skaters must act as the bread and lay down on their backs right next to the sausage.  Once the three skaters have made a complete hot dog on the floor together they can get back up and immediately continue running from IT.  The game either ends when IT has caught all but two skaters, or after a pre-determined time-limit.  Switch taggers every now and then so that everyone gets a chance to play, and if you have a large group, consider appointing 2+ taggers.  IT cannot tag skaters that are on the floor or are in the process of getting up off the floor (meaning, they must be "in bounds, upright and [running]" to be tagged legally, hehe).
Additional notes: I used to work with children and this is a game that one of my co-workers at the time taught me.  The kids *loved* playing it, if for no other reason than the chance to call themselves hot dogs for 10 minutes (try saying it a few times, it really is a funny word).  Since derby skaters typically are very much in touch with their inner children I realized that this game was something that they too would probably enjoy.  Something tells me that you could also try this on skates but I would personally be really nervous that people might get run over when they are laying on the floor (especially those fragile fingers are at risk).  Might be fun though to try using contact as the tagging method in this game though...  If you try it, let the rest of us know how it works!

If you like this drill, you may also like Cat & Rat.

1 comment:

  1. I wish there was an ADORE button for this! We did it on skates and it was a helluva work out. Rules: any direction, any where on the rink. Two girls were 'it', skating around, tagging people. We did not denote who was 'it' with a shirt or jammer pantie, so you really had to pay attention. I was a little leery of playing this at first, because I didn't think people would willingly become 'buns' to free the hotdogs, but they did! And that is where the workout came in - updownupdownupdownupdownsprintupdownsprintupdownup. We only lasted three rounds - maybe 10 minutes total because we were sprinting and taking a knee/laying down for all 10 minutes - no breaks to switch out the 'it' girls. I think we had perfect numbers - 2 'its' and 25ish runners/hotdogs/buns. Great pack awareness drill in this big of a crowd.

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