Does it matter how you order your tug-of-war participants? In a tug-of-war match today, my summer camp students were very concerned about putting the biggest people at the back of the rope.  Is there any advantage to this strategy?
 A: Yes, if you put the strongest people in the back the rope will be straighter, making  it more likely everyone is pulling in the same direction.
A: Think of how much horizontal force you can apply. The puller, is leaning horizontally, and pushing (at an angle on the ground), and vertcal forces and rotational torque must separately balance. The more the puller can lean backwards, and the lower the rope, the more horizontal force he can apply. Presumably he can lean more, and get the rope lower from the back of the line.
A: I can see two advantages:
1) the more heavy set the stronger the muscles, so it means a lot of the force is coming on a long arm. The tug is supposed to be linear but rotations will happen, and there will be amplification  of the effect as a lever arm. If the rope were solid this is obvious.
2) Think of  two people of equal weight,on  a see-saw. The one with the shorter distance from the fulcrum is at a disadvantage and has to put in more force to swing.
A tug of war has a "fulcrum" at the center where the two teams meet.
 Putting the heavy players  at the end will shift the centre of mass towards the end and will give an advantage in the impulse transfer by a longer distance from the center.
A: In the pure physics sense, if 3 people that pull 40Lb 30Lb and 20lb the total pull will be 90lb no matter where you put them. Now in the strategy is the last person in line is called the anchor he/she is usually the biggest and strongest of the bunch the next 3 are the pullers they do a straight yank as hard as they can and they are the pre-anchor the rest are heavers. The heavers pull in a rhythm or cycle called by the 1st person in line or the captain and they are arranged by height.  The basic strategy depends on the 3 types of human force. The marathon runner “Constant force applied over time.” The sprinter “Grate force over a short time.” And the weight lifter “Exert and hold great power.”
A: To most likely win tug of war,put the heavier people in the back because when they lean back,the rope moves further back.Now if you have someone that is only like 4 feet 10 inches and they are strong,still put them in the front.Heaviest to lightest would be good.Also putting the non heavy people but strong in the front is good to.
