yep! one of my fav games in my group lessons is playing tag. so basically we would have 2 teams - one chasing, one getting away. you have to avoid being tagged. If you're tagged, you have to sit (basically sit squat). So much fun and helped a lot with our control on our skates and our knee bends. to make sure we don't get carried away with speed, he cordoned off the area so we only move within a small area (so that we won't build too much speed to avoid high speed collisions/falls)the games can work to help relax nervous adults, the kind who’s terrified to let go of the wall after they reluctantly step on the ice.
I’ve seen coaches at my home rink use games, even with objects like cones, or sledding toys (penguins , snowman, they must collect the penguins and bring them to the snowman etc) when working privately with adult students who were too scared to participate in the beginner adult classroom because even in the first class, letting go of the wall and marching from one side of the rink to the other is required, and the results were positive.
I don’t see why gamification couldn’t be used in adult beginner lessons as well.
But you are also right. I am a bit more chill and have a take-it-slow approach to the lessons. But I can imagine for those highly motivated and crave structure, the games can feel very frustrating.It can! But some adults hate it, so just pointing it out to be aware of.