Planning an End of Sporting Seasoning Celebration

We are getting ready to wrap up our baseball/softball seasons for our three older children. It has been an interesting year for sports! Trying to keep 6 year olds, 8 year olds, and even 10 year olds socially distanced during baseball/softball has been interesting. Kids needed many visual reminders of what is 6 feet apart. But with the season nearing conclusion, we have had a healthy season for all three teams!

We all love our end of the season celebrations and pictures but how can we do this while keeping our children safe? Team photos – 6 ft apart? We were lucky that our sports photographers added special software to piece together a team photo for each group. What perfect timing to roll this out!

And if your season is coming to an end, you probably have play-off games and tournaments to finish up the year. These come with their own challenges. If you are looking for some meal inspiration for these tournaments to avoid the concession stands, head over to our Simple Ways to Prepare Healthy Foods for Sports Tournaments post.

End of Sports Season Celebration

So what can you do to wrap up the season in a special way? Our kids worked extra hard this season. Not only to play their sport but also play safely. They had a lot of adjustments to make and new rules and regulations to follow, so they deserve something extra special.

Well, we are definitely still planning on handing out trophies at the end. We will just have the players sit in their chairs spaced out by parents. Then have the coaches on the field, spaced out. The children can run over to the coaches to receive their trophies one at a time and still allow for pictures with the coaches.

If coaches feel more comfortable, they could place the trophies 6ft in front of them. Ask the player pick up their trophy and smile for a picture with their coaches spread out 6ft behind them. Be sure to place a marking on the ground so your players and coaches know where to stand and place the trophies. The players will need to walk further and it may take a little more time, but it keeps everyone socially distanced.

Handing Out Trophies

Trophies are a big part of ending a sports season. So many children look forward to the medal or trophy the receive at the end of the season. Plan to have all the players sit in their lawn chair spread out six feet. Coaches can spread out in the field or in front of the players, while parents can form their little family pods behind their player. Just as in years past, coaches can call the players up one at a time to receive their trophy or medal.

If you want to add a treat or special token, place these with the trophy so that each player can pick up their own when they come to get their trophy. Just be sure each item is individually wrapped and can be placed on the ground without ruining the items. For added safety, ask the person setting out the items to wear gloves.

Outing to Celebrate Sports Season

Instead of a group outing, you can plan a zoom or google meet outing. Have all the families log in to join a dance party or participate in a virtual scavenger hunt. There are so many online escape room and virtual games that your team could play together. You could even play a game like bingo where everyone has physical cards but plays from their own home. Plus the calling board would be available on their computer or TV for easy access.

We love the watch parties for watching a favorite movie together. Start off the meeting with a short coaches talk and player sharing. The coaches and players can even share some favorite memories or jokes from the season. Just a little something to celebrate your season and say thank you to everyone! Then head over to the movie to enjoy it as a team, but from afar.

Sports Team Photo

Create your own team photo. Have each player submit one photo to merge together into a team collage, or have one person take a photo of each player that can be made into a collage and shared with all the families. This allows you to really personalize the photos to a player’s personality too. Now the photos can be as silly as you wish and even include more than just a glove.

Befunky and fotojet have free options for creating your own collage and sharing with others. But you can also make the collage right in google photos and share via email or even create it using walgreens, cvs, walmart, or even shutterfly photo apps. Use whichever is most comfortable for you and the way in which you prefer to share the collage. If you print photos, you can add these with the trophies when you pass them out or slip them into the player’s bags while they are out on the field.

Connect with Us for More

Our children can still have a great end to their sports season while practicing safety among their teams. Check out our goals for 2021 in Beginning 2021. And if you are looking to get your children outside, why not give hiking a try. We’ve got you covered with our Best Safety Tips for Easy Hiking with Family post. We’ve hiked with babies as young as two months and loved every minute of it.

We’d appreciate if you would take a moment and leave us a comment letting us know how you are safely practicing sports during this crazy time. What are you doing to keep your kids active and healthy? And if you’d like to receive practical solutions for real life families with a few freebies here and there, don’t miss our newsletter. Go ahead and subscribe to receive a few special gifts.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.