Sport Education An Overview

Goals of Sport Education A competent sportsperson - sufficient skills and knowledge to participate successfully A literate sportsperson - understands rules, traditions, and rituals - becomes a discerning consumer An enthusiastic sportsperson - behaves appropriately to preserve, protect, and enhance the culture of sport

Sport Education Objectives Develop skills and fitness specific to a particular sport Appreciate and be able to execute strategic play Participate at a level appropriate to one’s developmental stage Share in the planning and administration of sport experience Provide reasonable leadership Work effectively within a group toward common goals Appreciate the rituals and conventions that give particular sports their unique meanings. Develop the capacity to make reasoned decisions about sport issues Develop and apply knowledge about umpiring, refereeing, and training Decide voluntarily to become involved in after-school sport

Differences Between Sport and Physical Education SportPhysical Education Done in seasons that are long enough to make the experience significant Organized in units that are short. Is the experience significant? Players are members of teams and remain affiliated throughout season Student affiliation in instructional groups often changes daily Involes formal competition and practice sessions Rarely any formal competition. It would be meaningless without affiliation Involves a culminating event - a goal to strive for Often lacks any culminating event that is meaningful

Differences Between Sport and Physical Education cont. SportPhysical Education Records are kept that define performance Records kept involve attendance and occasionally a skill test Involves an atmosphere of festivity that adds meaning to the experience Sport units usually devoid of festivity

Sport Education “The main features of sport - seasons, affiliation, a formal schedule of competition, a culminating event. records, and a festive atmosphere - are hardly ever reproduced in physical education classes. This is why I believe that sport has been taught incompletely and inauthentically” (Siedentop, 1994, p. 10).

Differences Between Sport Education and Sport Participation Requirements Everyone participates at all times Elimination tournaments are not acceptable Large teams are not appropriate All students experience all roles Developmentally Appropriate Involvement Game modifications are encouraged to encourage success but not change the basic nature of the contest Diverse Roles Student learn to be more than performers (e.g. coaches, referees, scorekeepers, managers, publicists, etc.)

Sport Education Sport education must present developmentally appropriate competition “Play hard, play fair, respect your opponent, and when the contest is over, it is over.”

Developmentally Appropriate Competition Involves A festive atmosphere The pursuit of competence Rivalry between participants

Festivity Competition should be viewed as a coming together, a festival, a celebration of participation - not a battle! Pursuit of Competence Competition provides a means of testing our competence, but competence should be measured by self- comparision i.e. to improve oneself Rivalry Rivalry is integral to competition. It may be against an opponent, against a team, against a clock. Participants should recognize that winning does not depend solely on defeating opponents

Implementing a Sport Education Program Choose a sport you know well Provide students with opportunities for involvement Identify and prepare materials Make the season festive Plan for “what ifs?”

Student Roles in Sport Education All students participate as players then choose from among the following additional roles: Sports Board Member Manager Coach Captain Record Keeper/Statistician Publicist/Newspaper Reporter

Specific Duties of Each Role Each role has specific responsibilities. In all roles STUDENTS are responsible for arranging any necessary meeting to ensure that the tasks are completed on time!

Sports Board assist in selecting teams planning the competitions with the teacher and creating schedules dealing with disputes or student requests meeting with the teacher to share ideas and feedback from students providing positive role models for teams planning the culminating event ensuring the smooth day-to-day functioning of the program creating a player handbook with pertinent information developing a point system to be used as part of class grade

Manager support the coach organize equipment for team practice ensure the players know who, where, and when they are playing check for appropriate uniforms, numbers, and so forth arrange for substitutes for absent players report concerns to coach and teacher organize the team when it is on duty (“organizing”)

Coach be fair to all players on the team involve all players in practice and competition listen to ideas of players plan active practices, seek advice of teacher discuss ideas with manager and captain make substitutions during games

Captain liase with coach relative to practice and game strategies make on-field decisions for team represent team to referee during competition lead team in congratulations and postcompetition rituals be an example of fair play

Record Keeper/Statistician help to decide what performance data to keep help to create documents to keep data bring documents to practices and games supervise the recording of all records compile and summarize data on player and team performance make available all data for reporters and teacher

Publicist/Newspaper Reporter take compiled data and publicize it on class bulletin board and school sports education newspaper (which you will create) distribute newspaper to class members interview team members to create reports write creative reports and stories use clip art and scanned or digital images in newspapers publish a weekly newspaper

Questions? For More Information: Siedentop, D. (Ed.). (1994). Sport Education. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.