Written by We can surely all agree that enabling children to participate in organized sports is a winning move all round. They don’t need to excel, they don’t even need to be particularly good, but their participation and their awareness of a healthful culture is priceless.
Stacey Hockin, health and human development teacher and sports coordinator at a Catholic College in Wodonga, has recently been awarded a cash prize in the ‘Rebel’s Sport is Calling’ competition for her efforts to empower Australian children with sport.
“I really enjoyed sport growing up. I wasn’t necessarily fantastic at it, but I enjoyed what it gave me: being outdoors, having a sense of pride, working with other people… I loved being active, pushing my body, and healthy eating. I still do.” – Stacey Hockin
Hockin’s vision for ‘health-focused school culture’ entails providing children with encouragement to have a go, to enjoy their sports without having to compete or be trophy-worthy. In this way kids are imbued with the building blocks for a healthy lifestyle and a positive attitude to teamwork and sportsmanship.
Sport also has the power to build self-confidence and improve mental health. Today’s children are burdened with so much stress and over-stimulation. They are constantly ‘connected’ to their screens and devices, coordinating their little personas in their social media platforms. A lot of children are adopting inactive, reclusive lives and spend less time outside in the sun than prison inmates.
Between the ages of 13 and 17 years, a significant number of young people abandon their sporting pursuits in favour of other activities. Strategies to engage these kids can be borne out of an understanding of what is holding them back or scaring them off. Barriers to engagement are diverse and can include; financial issues, lack of confidence or shyness, competing commitments, lack of understanding about the benefits of sport, culture, and false perceptions about the level of skill required; ‘am I good enough?’
A major contributing factor to consider is the engagement of parents. Parents have a unique opportunity to assist their children to develop a life-long love of sports and physical activity. Coaches, teachers, adult members of the family and extended family are role models and play an important role in influencing children and encouraging healthy behavior. The positive mindset that the children need to maintain their commitment to physical fitness is instilled in them by the continuing support of their adult role models. Parents who actively enable their child’s sport and physical activity offer encouragement and support. This plays a significant role in sustaining a child’s sports participation and developing a positive mindset towards maintaining physical fitness through life. A ‘partnership philosophy’, adopted by the sporting organisation encourages coaches and parents to work together as mutually supportive partners in the development of a child’s sporting potential.
Why this Aussie teacher believes every kid should play sport – 9Coach (nine.com.au)