How To Employ An Educational Approach In Sport?

As much as sports is about playing and succeeding to some degree; it is also vital that there is an educational element to reaching this success. When you are not working in a school or within other educational parameters it is easy to drift away from ensuring there at least some learning is taking place. If you are working with a group where the main aim is to compete it can be even more difficult. The best tip this blog would suggest is to create a balance. Here are 4 top tips to consider why an educational approach is useful:

1. Trust Building - When people can truly say 'Hey, I can really learn something from this person' it means they are prepared to engage with what you have to offer. You must seize this opportunity as this could make the difference to them having belief in your methods. This is the beginning of building trust. People are generally very responsive to sessions with an educational value because there is a personal gain attached to it. 

2. Commitment - Its hard to believe that anyone wouldn't want those in your sessions, workshops and lessons to be committed to your programme. The commitment of others makes your job easier as you don't have to struggle for the focus that is needed.

3. Confidence - Those in your programme are likely to have a boosted confidence in it, especially when they are personally benefiting. When people have confidence in your programme it could also help the group dynamics. 

4. Understanding - People are more responsive to learning when they understand questions to WHY they are performing tasks in certain ways. This will increase the likelihood of accepting your approach. 

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 Little Free Play Hurts Children's Confidence in Sport

Coaches and teachers are often faced with children and young people in their sessions that have low confidence and are less motivated. This may be for a number of reasons such as shyness, dislike of the activity, boredom or inadequate free play just to mention a few. This blog post will focus on the latter as it is one that is frequently forgotten about  because of the short time usually available (something that the coach/teacher does not always have control over). If you are a parent and you have a child that really adores playing sport but you see a sudden withdrawal of interest from your child it may be that they are getting little free time to actually play the game. 

When it comes to children being given little free play time in sport it is often coaches of young elite athletes, talented athletes and competitive sports leaders who are prone it. This  understandably, due to pressures of competitive of youth and elite sport. Equally, lack free play time can also occur in grassroots sports. As noted earlier lack of time in sessions which the can be a huge factor.

Children no doubt often drop out of sports participation due to negative experiences. The majority of children who like sports do seem to do so  because it is simply fun. This fun factor is significantly correlated to their free play. And as we all know, when you take away anything fun from children the will to engage almost disappears immediately. Another scenario that may lead a child into receiving little or no free play is in team games where children are given the freedom to pick their own team and even tactics at times.  As a result children can become very competitive and therefore want to do as much as possible to succeed. 

Albeit, this motivation to succeed can come at the expense of another child's free play time . It is common that this particular child is not perceived as having the ability to make a significant contribution to the team by their peers. Inevitably, the ball might not be passed to them during free play or they may only be used a as a substitute. This attitude must be stamped out straight away otherwise it becomes a very unsporting habit. The feeling of rejection by peers can be even more detrimental to a child's confidence. Coaches and teachers must always try to stop this happening by incorporating conditions as it is them they are seeking to impress as part of growing up. For instance a condition like everyone needing to touch the ball before an attempt at goal will help. Additionally, limit the focus on outcome goals as this  for children as winning is not the most important thing at this stage. Encourage process goals 

Whilst some children are not affected by little free play time others are exposed to feeling they are not good enough and even feeling unsupported by their coach/teacher.  It is of vital importance that coaches and teachers address it if there is a problem of free play time to stop children developing fear of failure. If equal free play time is allocated as much as possible it decreases the possibility of low confidence.

Free play time also involves the period of practicing certain skills in drills. It is the coach's duty to make interventions and corrections during this time. Nevertheless, play should be allowed to go on as much as possible. Too many corrections can be perceived as interruption to play by the child and as a result they could become fed up. The most effective way is to strike a good balance between free play time and corrections; don't you think?

 

Amie Samba

Managing Director

Run Fun Starz Group ®

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Find Out More About Community and Grassroots Sports

The Community Channel on Youtube has a really good programme called Your Sport. It gives you good insight to how sport is being developed by ordinary people through grassroots and beyond. If you are Teacher, young person, coach or you just have an interest in sports it might give you some useful tips and ideas on future projects and events. This video really goes to the heart of what sport can do for communities around the world. Enjoy!

Your Sport Series 

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What Will Run Fun Starz Group Do For Community Sports?

One of the many questions we are faced with when working with people who are directly or indirectly using our programmes, sessions, events, tournaments etc is how can Run Fun Starz Group help us?

The fundamental answer lays within our vision in that:

‘We exist to deliver Flexy Sports Programmes which will serve as the platform for children, young people and adults of all abilities to reach their personal best in sport’’.   

Tell us your ideal sporting experience and we will seek to bring it to reality in the closest way possible. But we always begin by bringing modern and innovative sports and activities with exciting ways of delivering to improve individuals and groups. At the centre of our approach is the person taking part in the programmes because they are the guide to how to get to their personal best. We seek to make a difference, with the support of others too.

How Do We Seek To Make a Difference?

1. We have raised children, young people and adults self-esteem, motivation and opportunities in the community through the participation of Flexy Sports Programmes. The outcome of improving mental aspect such as the above is the creation of a more relaxed, positive and cohesive environment in communities. To continue such work we are always on the look out for working with people from all sectors of the community.

2. We have created inclusive sessions that will facilitate each and every individual child, young person and adult’s level of sporting experience and ability through fun and enjoyment. Including others is important to us as everyone deserves a chance to take part. Many of our able bodied participants also participate in sports and activities which are associated with people with  disabilities. The outcome of our inclusive programmesis that it encouraged individuals to be open minded about different sport and come out of their comfort zone. To ensure young people especially have a fair chance of our programmes we regularly put on free sessions in youth clubs, local sports halls and schools.

3. We have been and will continue to be the platform for children, young people and adults who seek ample practice to enhance their skills. As giving people the opportunity to experience sports which are relatively unknown to them we have pathway set up to direct people who have the potential to become professional athletes. The pathway has links to agencies we are connected to. One of them is the ACE 2012.

4. We are helping children, young people and adults build and maximise new skills  and acquire understanding required to continue a healthy and active lifestyle in the future. The outcome of it is getting people to think and act on the steps to live healthy.

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Why Are Sports Participation Rates Low Among Ethnic Minorities?

Most people tend to think about why the rates low but don't consider looking at effective solutions that can be emulated from one group to another. But like women, girls and people with disabilities ethnic minorities are also a group which tends to have lower sports participation rates. According to National Statistics (2007) sports among ethnic minority groups is only 40% compared with the national average which is 46%. There is even a stronger correlation between gender and participation as the issue of female involvement of sport is also prevalent in minority groups.  The survey found that Black, Caribbean, Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi females are least likely to participate with 32% compared to national average of 39%. Whereas Indian, Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani men were less likely to participate in sport than men generally.  ‘Black Other’ actually has a slightly higher participation rates than the national average. The concerns from participating in sport for ethic minorities often relate to facilities, cost, time/man power, distribution of information, fear of discrimination and language barriers.

Due to there being many members of ethic communities who come from a low socio-economic background it makes it more likely that they live in a deprived area. As a result the possibility of experiencing inadequate standards of sports facilities within the area. When a facility does not have a lot of quality equipment to use this takes away from the experience that you are seeking and therefore you may not want to go back.  This could be enough to put anyone off playing regular sport but due to factors stated earlier the chances are higher for people from ethnic populations. The improvement of these facilities is in the control of local councils and governing bodies who manage the distribution of funding facilities.

However, those involved in the day-to-day running of the operational aspect within the facilities should put in place measures which will maintain a good standard for people. Another factor that may deter someone from an ethnic group in taking part in sport is the lack of access to sports specialist facilities may be restricted because of cost and the quality of the delivery of sports may be of low quality due to inexperienced and under trained staff. Any organisation or facility should always seek to keep the skills of their work force up to date for a better experience for people living within their area. When it comes to the provision of facilities a lot of places such as sports clubs, leisure centres and sports centres have already been developed and improved in London through investment.

How ever, spectacular a facility may look in the end the cost of playing sport will be the main aspect to influence the opportunity of many individuals from an ethnic group. If you are a young person from an ethnic minority population and want to join a Tennis Club then membership fees can be extremely high. This blog would suggest introducing occasional special offers like discount memberships and free lessons and use of facilities to attract this group. The main point is to make it as affordable as possible as people will be more willing to find out incentives that could be financially beneficial to them.

For reasons that could be cultural, religious or due to family responsibilities someone from an ethnic group may find it more difficult to make time to participate in sports. This is even more of a struggle if you are from an environment where sport and physical activity is not viewed as essential. Therefore it is vital to put on sports activities at times that accommodating to the availability of certain groups. It might also help to have an area for the provision of children or a place where other family members can comfortably sit. It may also be a good idea to assist individuals who need the human resources to organise sports activities by offering skilled volunteers and trained sports professionals to help out. The role may be something minimal as giving advice and information. This may be more effective if the responsibility is given to persons who actually have an ethnic background or affiliation and can take the role as a mediator. Making an effort to reach out to people from the ethnic minority can make the difference in someone choosing to play more sport.

The distribution of information is vital in engaging ethnic minority groups. Information needs to be easily accessed and communicated in a way that is relevant to the individual and takes their understanding into account. This will also make the obstacle of language barriers easier as in most multi-cultural areas there will be difficulties in integrating some groups into the mainstream and consequently, some may feel excluded as they have little understanding. Furthermore, this could lead to feeling discriminated against and uncomfortable. Thus individuals need to be made to feel welcomed and encouraged when they express an interest in taking part.

One key point to take away from this is that  Black Other has the highest participation (60%) then any other group. The questions that need to be asked from this point on is what are the approaches that have significantly contributed to this groups high rate of sports participation? How could this approach be manipulated and then applied to other groups? Which of these approaches are more effective to which groups and why/not? What are the other strategies and approaches that could be used?

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