Recently, I discovered a great team activity. The team mom for my soccer team suggested that we establish a "Secret Sister." After a fun and secretive selection party when each of us chose a name, we were able to surprise our selected teammate at every tournament with a small token. I had so much fun with this activity because it was as enjoyable to receive a gift as it was to pick out treats for my Secret Sister.

The Secret Sister activity is quite simple to set up. Whoever is in charge makes up a sheet that each player can complete by listing her favorite things. Some examples are favorite candy, favorite store or favorite song or book. From there the coordinator puts each form into an envelope and labels it with a number. They should keep a key showing what number corresponds to each player. After that is all finished, every number is written on a slip of paper and put into a hat, jar, etc.

When the whole team is together, each player chooses a number out of the hat and the coordinator gives them the envelope that goes with it (obviously, if they pick themselves they get to choose again). The person whose form they chose is their Secret Sister. It is imperative that each teammate does not tell anyone who her Secret Sister is! Now comes the fun part.

Every weekend, each player brings a gift for her Secret Sister. The gift's value does not need to be expensive so you can set a dollar limit for the gifts. The recipient's name should be clearly written on the gift. Each gift is delivered to the team mom in a generic bag (a grocery bag will do fine) so no one can tell who brought what wrapped gift. Everyone gets to open her gift at the end of the game!

Once the season is over, everyone buys one last gift for her Secret Sister. This final gift can be worth a little bit more than the previous gifts. A fun way to identify the Secret Sisters is to have each player attempt to guess who her Secret Sister might be. Then she can open her final gift regardless of whether or not she guessed correctly. After each player has had her turn, the ones who did not guess correctly the first time will guess again out of the remaining available "sisters" until they each guess correctly.

The Secret Sister activity is a lot of fun; everyone on my team enjoyed it, including the parents. Not only did we learn a lot about our teammate's unique tastes, we enjoyed shopping and receiving some neat little gifts. Win or lose, we always had something to look forward to after our games. I strongly suggest holding a Secret Sister activity for your team, family, etc. I know you will have a fabulous time doing it!


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