Cooperative New Games Returns

Online, November 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The origin of New Games is in the early 70's, when Whole Earth Catalog creator Stewart Brand presented the first New Games Tournament. Since then the idea spread all over the US, Canada, and at least 30+ countries including Israel, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Lately, however, New Games became low profile. People were still doing the games, but with their local group, and not making much of a fuss. That is now changing.

One of the originators of cooperative New Games, Dale Le Fevre, has relaunched his New Games web site and intends to take New Games places it has never been before. Literally. Just recently he has been in negotiations to bring New Games to Mongolia and Vietnam. And Dale's dream is to teach cooperative New Games to the people who stay at the South Pole so that they will have something fun to do during the long winter.

In short, cooperative New Games are for everybody - all ages, all sizes, and all abilities. While they include a lot of learning, social and physical skills, the main reason to do them is that they're fun. Why are they still called New Games? Because the emphasis is on fun and inclusion rather than the dominant norm of heavy competition for the few.

"Look at the faces of these people, they're smiling! This is the most exciting development in physical education in 50 years."
Seymour M. Gold
University of California, Davis

Who are cooperative New Games for? To name a few, they can be used in school PE programs and in the classroom to help teach concepts; businesses can use them for team building activities and improving communication; religious groups can create community with church games; day care centers for young and old can use these games for learning cooperation and making contact with others. This is but a sampling - New Games can be used for great benefit with any group.

Cooperative Games are fun for everyone, and Dale will travel anywhere to present them.

New Games:

# gives leadership training workshops to teach people how to lead the games with groups;
# presents the games at meetings, gatherings, and conferences;
# has created books and DVDs to help do New Games and Parachute Games with others.