Students in year 3 and 4 have had a major focus on sportsmanship this term and whilst they have tested the boundaries as end-of-term-tiredness kicks in, I am extremely proud of their progress.
There is no doubt that a winning focus at a young age destroys development. I witness it every weekend and unfortunately many players have next-to-no chance of making it to the next level because of the type of skills it promotes. That being said, players still need to learn how to win well and lose well, as these are not only a part of sport, but of daily life. If your kids are like mine, and compete at everything from eating breakfast to being first up the stairs, then teaching them how to deal with winning and losing is extremely important.
By winning well, I mean, celebrating with team mates, high fives to coaches on the way back to half way or even giving the corner flag a work out like Timmy Cahill. A celebration of a goal scored, or a last minute win, gives us a little insight into the characters that play the game and this is one of the great aspects of watching sport all over the world. Those players, however, who do their best to rub it into the opposition with derogatory remarks, making faces or even touching an opposition player after the fact, have no place in the game and our students are learning a big lesson in this respect. Shaking hands at the end of a game, picking a player up off the ground after a foul and even giving a positive comment to the opposition after good play is what sportsmanship is all about.
A major focus for our group has been working on losing well or the ‘blame game’. I refer to situations when a goal is conceded and player’s are looking for someone in their own team to blame. This aspect of unsportsmanlike conduct is being dealt with quite harshly and students are learning that they are all in this together and to move forward they need to work as one.
During this focus on sportsmanship, I had one of our students, Chaise, direct me towards the song Que Sera by Justice Crew. After Chaise and his family showed me the film clip and I listened to the words at futsal one Friday night, I realised the positive impact that our focus was having. I look forward to our sportsmanship focus becoming entrenched in our student’s lives.
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