Teamwork Group clearly better than Conflict Reolution Group

Today we had our first meeting at the Boy's and Girl's club. It was so much fun, I'm debating continuing even after Paidea is finished. At first it was complete Chaos, We had a smattering of kids of such vastly different age groups that our projects proved a little difficult to convey to everyone. What's more, the other groups were completely right about the limited attention span, Mafia was kind of a disaster with at least 90% of the kids cheating and all of them misunderstanding it to begin with. The real problem isn't the lack of attention, it was the fact that it diminished at different rates for different kids, Some were completely with us while others had about 3 or 4 minutes of sustained attention. Noise and random other kids doing their own thing was kind of a problem, but we still had a lot of fun and managed to learn quite a few of their names. I agree with the other groups, the girl Skyler is adorable but also so depressing that she would need attention that badly. Our activities we had planned out didn't take even half the time we planned (as the kids lost interest or just didn't understand) a large part of the problem was the continual shifting of kids in and out, half way through directions, or more likely, right in the middle of a game. Thus our actual plans were ok but lasted about 30 minutes before dying. We then decided to play basketball and foursquare (following the wishes of our remaining kids) and Here is where I actually had all my fun. This was exactly what I wanted out of this civic engagement all along. I got to talk to a few kids before we started (a least a little connecting) but it wasn't until I had three on my team and three against me that I really got to them. My team had Mleke, Harley, and Carlos. They all know me, worked well together (not Carlos so much, I'll have to talk to him), and are eagerly waiting for us to come out on Thursday. I got to know the other team almost as well and we had a great time. More importantly, I feel like we have the ground set for a much greater connection later. The kids seemed to really appreciate us coming out there with them. We did have a few problems that I would like to work on for next time. First, Carlos and some of the other kids have trouble passing the ball and playing as a team, I think I can rectify this by talking to them before the next game and planning the specific play. I noticed that when I told them a play, they would actually cooperate more than if they were just sort of running around, I think I want to play football next time and sort of direct the kids that way (maybe all-time quarterback) so they work together more. Second, there was one kid who got knocked to the ground like three times and another one who kept getting involved in scrums with the ball. The kids play a little too violently to prevent aggression, I think we can work on this for next time to make sure no one gets too frustrated. First, I can talk to them about playing less competitively and second, I can shape this more by playing both sides and encouraging everyone who does well rather than just one team. (Chrissy was on the other team, congratulating them, I feel like this set the stage for a more adversarial relationship than was necessary). I am however, very proud of the kids, they got hurt but didn't whine, and they kept trying even if they were losing badly. The last problem may be the most difficult to solve. All the people playing basketball were boys and almost everyone playing foursquare. I don't know how to include more girls in such a typically male activity without pitting boys against girls which I feel would be counterproductive and lead to much more hostility than fun. I don't want the girls to have to wait until our planes and boat competition to be involved, its just as important that they learn how to win with magnanimity, lose with class, play with heart, and cooperate well. I'll keep thinking about it and hope to have a solution by Thursday.