Civic Drills Database

Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr used his platform, microphone and influence to speak passionately about gun control during a press conference just before game 4 of the NBA Playoffs following a mass shooting on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. What do you want to put your voice behind? How will you use your influence to make a difference?

"Whether you realize it or not as an athlete, you have a great impact and influence amongst peers and young people and others and this is a time to use it." - Senator Cory Booker. Watch Senator Cory Booker, former Stanford football player, talk about his belief that "Democracy is not a Spectator Sport." After you watch this short video, discuss how your team how will "get on the field" to support Democracy.

Election Day is coming up and all NCAA teams have the day off from practice or play due to All Vote No Play legislation. Don’t waste all the hard work you have put in already - plan an All Vote No Play Day event with your team - try the guide below to start, and join our Engaged Athlete Network for support from The Team!

Athlete voices are some of the most influential on campus. Feel Good Action harnesses the power of micro-influencers on social media to turn Viewers into Voters. Contact them to help you create a powerful social media campaign using your voice to inspire impact and action!

Curious about what’s on the ballot or the local candidates running in your area? Check out My Vote Project to see when there’s a vote happening in your community. Find out who is running in your elections and what they stand for. Bring it up in your team to find out how to engage with candidates or causes you care about.

Explore the When We All Vote advocacy campaigns which take on issues related to voter rights and strengthening our democracy. Check out the issues outlined and discuss with your team if there is something you could do to get involved.

Voter laws have been in massive flux in the last few years. Take some time to review the specific guidelines and key dates of your state through AllIN Campus Democracy Challenge's AllIN to Vote resource guide.

Already done with your voting, but want to show your support for others? Consider helping the Pizza to the Polls effort to make voting fun and a joyful community experience!

Make in person voting a team activity! Start off with a team breakfast or gathering and then go to the polls to make your voice heard!.

Voting rights, especially for Black and young voters, are under attack. When We All Vote is launching the VOTE LOUD HBCU Squad Challenge to empower HBCU students through grants and support to take a leading role in voter registration, education, and mobilization.

Every state has different voter ID laws. And with all the new voter law changes, this matters more than ever. VoteRiders is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides detailed voter ID assistance so that every American can cast a ballot that counts. Check out their state by state map, their guide for first time voters, or direct chat line to help players have what they need in time to vote.

We don't show up for games without a plan to win. The same is true for voting. Are you going to vote in person on Election Day? Early? By Mail? Before November, take some time to figure out what your game plan is to make your voice and vote count!

It can be hard for students to know if, where and when they've registered to vote. Vote.org is the largest, nonpartisan online digital platform to check the status of their voter registration. From there, a player can make informed choices about how to get current and ready for the upcoming election.

The first step in any action is to make the commitment to get involved. Sign the AllIN Campus Democracy Challenge Coaches Commitment form to join a growing list of campuses, coaches, teams, and programs that are putting their collective muscle behind Democracy.

As a team, connect with your local children’s hospital, community center, or nursing/assisted living home. If visiting isn’t an option because of COVID, see if you could arrange a Zoom call to chat with hospitalized youth or play bingo with the residents. Put a smile on their face!

Invite a faculty member to a team lunch on November 8th and ask them to present no more than 10-15 minutes on a topic related to voting or civic engagement (e.g., voting rights, gerrymandering, Jim Crow laws, or the electoral college).

As a team, go to a family-owned restaurant in your area that has been around for a long time. Ask the owner or manager to share how they have seen the community change and how their business has adjusted over the years.

Have a team meal. Before eating, go around the room and ask every person to say why they think it is important that we exercise our right to vote. Encourage people to share personal stories and memories of voting or civic engagement. Consider using Vote with Love’s “Reflect on your Personal Story” as a prompt.

Host a team BBQ and invite public officials, thanking them for their service. Have a player introduce them and invite the guest to say a few words about what they do. You could invite a specific group like first responders, the school board, city planners, or a mix of people. Consider inviting other teams to join you!

Challenge your players to discover other interests outside of their sport. Athletes hear all the time that one day “the ball will stop bouncing,” but often don’t think about what this looks like. Work with your players to determine what former player, current booster, or local person they would like to learn about. You can start the conversation early by asking them to write down to write down 2-3 possible interests and 1-3 steps they could take to empower themselves to pursue it. Then have that person (or a bunch of them!) come speak to the team at a meal and engage in conversation.

Encourage players to spend some time exploring clubs or teams on campus, and consider attending a meeting or reaching out to someone in that club to get to know what that club is all about. Have them report back on what they discovered.

Dedicate time in your team meetings for players to share something about their own community or culture. Consider asking people to share a picture or bring a personal artifact: Where is your hometown or community? What is something you appreciate about it? What do you want others to know?

During a team meeting or within the team's group chat, ask players to share a civic action they took to help someone out in a productive and communal way. Then ask them to “tag” someone else on the team to do something similar. This doesn’t have to be a big action: offering to walk someone home, joining someone who is alone for lunch, or checking on a neighbor counts!

Visit a school on #AllVoteNoPlay day. It could be one you already have a relationship with or a new school. Help your athletes work with the school administrators and teachers to figure out the best way to leverage their civic influence and impact on the students.

Brainstorm and plan how your team can use the new NCAA Name, Image, and Likeness possibilities for good. Individuals might have their own ideas based on their personal branding, and you should encourage that. But there are also more team-oriented opportunities (e.g., sponsoring a game day for foster kids or seeing if donors would support a player-run sports camp for underprivileged youth). Then execute your plan!

Ask if your team can do an Instagram takeover for your Athletic Department. On a portable whiteboard or piece of paper, write the prompt, “It is our civic duty as student athletes to vote because..” Have players fill in the blank, then take a picture and post it on your team, athletic department, or personal Instagram account tagging @theteamdotorg Consider turning into a cross-team competition!

Have players sign up to work the local polls. Poll workers get paid for their time and it's a great way to gain an appreciation for what it takes to ensure that everyone can exercise their fundamental right to vote. Find the poll worker application in your county here.

Amplifier Art is a nonprofit, nonpartisan design lab that builds art and media experiments to amplify the most important movements of our time. Ask your team to look at their free gallery to find a poster or movement that speaks to them personally, and give them space to explain why to their teammates. Consider amplifying that art through individual or a team-based action.

Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) is the largest nonpartisan student voter network. Use their Student Leader starter pack to get some ideas on how to be a civic leader on your campus.

You’re more powerful than you think! Citizen University wants to bring more power to the athletes! They’ve outlined three strategies that every student athlete can use to ensure Election Day is a day for civics and citizenship. 1) Get literate in power 2) Map where power flows 3) Refine your argument to move to action.

Engage with The Team’s civic drill in partnership with ActiVote featuring an exclusive video from Steph Curry!

Ever wonder what all of the different acronyms and shorthands in the nonpartisan student democratic engagement space stand for? Check out this guide for answers.

Citizening isn't just about voting or becoming politically active, it's about how you show up every day for yourself, your teammates, and others. Citizening shows up in the micro-moments, not just the big events. Are you flexing civic character that shows care and concern for others, are you building civic culture by modeling positive contribution? Take some time with your team to discuss: How are we "citizening"?

Engage with The Team’s civic drill in partnership with ActiVote, helping you design your ideal president.

ActiVote has a nonpartisan app to educate voters on important issues and help you plan to vote in your state. Download the app to start building civic habits, learn about policy, and feel empowered.

Showing care and appreciation is one of the best ways to strengthen your community. Get a pack of thank you notes. Write one hand-written note thanking someone for all they do for you. This could be someone you care about or someone you don’t really know (e.g., faculty or dining hall, administrative, or janitorial staff). Consider making it a challenge to turn this into a habit.

Personalize and share this iconic customizable poster from Civic Season. Ask your team to do it to prompt conversation, or post, tagging @historymadebyus and @theteamdotorg

Listen to this Burn It All Down podcast episode as a case study on how athletes coming together can create change. In 2020, 10,000 athletes participated in a virtual relay from Atlanta, Georgia to Washington, DC in order to raise money and engage the running community to do something for more than themselves.

Plan a field trip to a meaningful spot on campus, local museum, or historic monument or environmental site to prompt conversation and meaning. Check your campus, community, or local chamber of commerce for suggestions on where to go that is historically significant to your team. Or, consider hosting a virtual history museum tour with your team with one of these sites.​​

“Slay the Dragon" is about the connection of gerrymandering to the Flint, Michigan water crisis

“The Vote” about securing the right for all women to vote

Curious to explore how values can be shared across difference? Check out Citizen Film's documentary American Creed.

Watch a documentary on an athletic “civic leader.” Examples include: Muhammed Ali, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, Lebron James, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, and Megan Rapinoe, among others. Discuss how these athletes flexed their civic muscles and skills for positive impact. Check out this starter list of movie ideas.

John Lewis’ story in “Good Trouble"

Watch this short video from iCivics about Patsy Takemoto Mink who became the first woman of color elected to Congress. In her 24 years as a Representative, Mink battled inequality by changing the laws. Her greatest legacy is as the co-author of Title IX, the landmark legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money.

In this award-winning podcast, How To Citizen, comedian, host, and producer Baratunde Thurston reimagines the word “citizen” as a verb and reminds us how to wield our collective power. Baratunde's citizening practices align with what athletes do every day in their sport: Show Up, Build Relationships, Understand Power, and Invest in the Collective. How does your team citizen in these terms?

We tend to think about civics as a one day event that happens on Election Day, but there are opportunities and notable calendar events related to civics all year long. Check out this robust calendar and list of activities from Civics Season and ask how your team can get involved beyond Election Day, starting with Juneteenth, National Voter Registration Day, or even Election Hero Day when we honor all of those that volunteer to keep our elections safe and fair.

Written by award-winning historian Jon Meacham and narrated by NBA legend Doc Rivers, this podcast explores six of the most historic, inspiring, and moving speeches in sports history. Ask your team to listen to one or more of the episodes, and have a conversation about what makes these speeches so powerful.

Olympic athletes widening conversations about access mental health support