Team Track Triathlon: Assign Your Specialists

Teams of four compete in three events (60 m dash, standing long jump and vortex throw), and each member may enter only two. The team decides who goes to each event to score the best total, balancing everyone's strengths and needs.

How to play

1. Explain the rule: each student enters two events, so two events get three entrants and one gets two, and every result counts (3 min).
2. Open round with one attempt in each event so the team can find its specialists (8 min).
3. The team hands its lineup to the scorer's table in writing (3 min).
4. Station competition: two attempts per event, the best one counts and is converted to points with a simple table (12 min).
5. Tally and reflection: was this the best possible lineup? (4 min).

Rules

• In the throw, throw on the judge's signal and retrieve together.
• The 60 m start is an arm drop and there is a 15-meter slowdown zone.
• Every team member enters the same number of events.
• Each rotation, every team supplies a judge to a station other than its own.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: competes in a wheelchair in the sprint and the throw with their own scoring scale.
• Visual impairment: runs the 60 m with a guide and throws with sound cues for direction.
• Overweight: the team may assign them the jump and the throw if they prefer.

Learning goals

• Make team decisions that account for individual strengths.
• Use basic technique in several track and field events under competition.
• Promote cooperation and recognize everyone's contribution.

Equipment for a class of 25

• vortex throwers: 6
• cones: 20
• stopwatch: 3
• tape measure: 3
• worksheets: 7

Teacher tip

The points table can be the one the class built in an earlier session. Keep time for each station yourself so rotations move quickly.

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