Queen of the bees

The goals of this module are

to introduce the topic of crime and safety in the personal environment,
to create awareness for strategies of preventive and direct protection of minorities,
to increase collective protection strategy development and teamwork,
to develop a general understanding of necessity for preventive protection and
to increase perception and awareness of empathy.

Ideal Group size:

10-30

Duration:

10-20 minutes (plus discussion)

Preparation:

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Material:

softballs or sock bundles (number varies with number of participants)
If possible: visible marking of the attackers (boxing gloves, jersey etc.)

Materials for download:

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External resources:

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How it’s done

Notes: This exercise is supposed to create a learning effect by working in team and by the creative development of strategies to protect a person from attackers. As a coach you’re supposed to make the ‘protection group’ think collectively about an effective way to block the attacks of the other group. A good coach can also support a strategy that leads into failure, to underline the importance of a good strategy and to enhance a learning effect.

Introduction

Always try to make use of a story or a specific example to frame the exercise and the topic – ”Everybody, imagine we are in the world of bees now. We all live together in a bee hive and we try to make our beloved queen happy. But unfortunately there are some bees living among us, who don’t want to participate in our bee community. These ‘killer bees’ have evil intentions and try to assault our queen to show their anger. Now it is our task as ‘protection bees’ to save our queen from harm …”

Instructions and description of exercise

Bring all the girls together in a semi-circle to start the introduction and to explain the rules
Explain rules after introduction speech:

This game is played by 2 teams – attacking bees & protecting bees – with 2 different goals
Randomly select the ‘attacking bees’, who try to attack the ‘queen of the bees’ (1 attacker for every 5 protectors) and encourage them to sit next to you
The ‘attackers’ try to attack the ‘queen of the bees’ by throwing softballs/ sock bundles at her
Randomly select a ‘queen of the bees’, who needs to be protected – ‘queen’ changes in every round!
All the other girls are ‘protecting bees’, who try to protect their queen by blocking the the attacking bees’ shots
The ‘protecting bees’ can use every part of their body to block and protect the ‘queen’
After blocking or catching an attack, the ‘protecting bees’ are allowed to throw the balls/ socks away about a maximum of 10m in any direction (they’re not allowed to hold on to the ball/ sock)
Physical contact between the teams is prohibited (allowed within the teams)
The ‘protecting bees’ succeed if the ‘queen of the bees’ is not hit by a ball/ sock for 2 minutes
Explain the borders of the playing field before
Allow the teams to discuss their strategies for 1:30 minutes and than start the game
Every team of ‘protecting bees’ has a maximum of 3 rounds to develop a strategy for the ‘queen’ not to get hit for 2 minutes

Try to give coaching advice and performance feedback to the ‘protecting bees’ after every round
Meet in a semi-circle again after the 3 rounds, randomly select new ‘attacking bees’, give a short summary about the effectiveness of the protection strategy and introduce a new rule

The ‘queen of the bees’ is selected secretly and not visible for the ‘attacking bees’

The new rule will lead to new possible strategies and enhances the creativity of the ‘protecting bees’

Reflection and discussion

Notes: After the exercise, bring all the girls together and create a comfortable situation with everybody sitting in a circle and being able to see each other.

Try to remind everybody of the entrance story and start to ask about the experience made in the exercise.

Everybody is supposed to be included into the discussion! Make sure to involve everybody and try to ask shy and more quiet girls directly.
Specific questions for reflection and discussion round:
- What happened in the first rounds in the team of the ‘protecting bees’, how successful were the strategies?
- How difficult was it for the ‘attacking bees’ to attack the ‘queen’?
- What changed in the following rounds and how did the ‘protecting bees’ develop their strategy?
- Is there a possibility to transfer into real life?
- What similarities do we find in the game compared to crime in our community?
- How safe and protected do you feel in your community, are you afraid of crime? Why?
- What changed when the ‘attacking bees’ didn’t know who has been the ‘queen of the bees’?
- How hard/ easy was it for the ‘attacking bees’ to succeed and why?
- Did the rule of the ‘invisible queen’ have an effect on the strategy of the ‘protectors’?
- How can we transfer this to crime and people who want to attack others, in real life?
- What is the advantage of having a good protection strategy to prevent crime?
- What is the advantage of working as a team to execute a strategy and to protect others?
- How did it feel to be the ‘queen of the bees’/ the targeted victim?
- What about real life, how can we make possible victims feel less anxious about crime and possible attacks?
- What can we learn from a strategy that didn’t work?
- What can we do to develop a strategy to prevent crime for our group?
- Where could you search for help if you witness or know about a crime?
After discussing perception of crime and security within the community, the discussion is supposed to touch the topic of fundamental rights and women rights. The objective is to create basic knowledge about rights the children can always rely on.
- What do you know about your personal, legal rights?
- hat are the fundamental rights every person – children, women, men, & adults – has in our country?

Notes: This is just a selection of possible questions that could help to lead a discussion. It is important to react to the answers that are given in the discussion round and to be able to adapt your guideline to individual experiences and perceptions.