Physical literary: seems like this is the hot topic right now and for good reason. Thanks to Julie for her informative blog, IFS at the Forefront. I can come from a slightly different angle and direct this straight towards our primary college parents and those who have children starting in the primary college next year. If you were in Todd and Rod’s year 3 and 4 classroom for the Meet and Greet Night at the beginning of the year, you will know where I am heading with this.
As mentioned on the night, very strongly by Andre, we have the football covered, so as a parent, do your best to remove yourself from the football coaching when your child is away from college. I realise this is tough, especially when you see your child make a mistake at their local training session or at their game on the weekend. Our advice is to let it go, encourage your child’s passion for the game and communicate your frustration through your child’s college coach. With Parent-Teacher-Coach Night upon us, this is obviously very timely.
This does not mean that we do not need you, we do, very much. Physical literacy is almost the word for 2014 and understandably so. The importance of learning the basics of all types of movements, within all different environments cannot be understated. If I was to tell you, I could rate your child’s football ability by the way he or she threw a tennis ball, you would probably not believe me, but unfortunately it’s true.
Andre and I have the privilege of working with the youngest group at the college five sessions per week and we have one session a week, plus some warm up time, dedicated solely to different forms of physical literacy. This may include throwing and catching all different types of balls and objects, special dodging and weaving games, and even some fun variations of tag. I realise the students also have a small amount of time dedicated towards this in their PDHPE program, but whatever you can do as parents to improve your child’s physical literacy is certainly welcomed by us.
A couple of short videos explaining physical literacy:
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