What does football, or tennis, or sport in general have in common with academic achievement, one might well ask. Being a member of the IFS-ITS team, I have a first-hand opportunity to seriously consider this question.
Some years ago I was involved in junior cricket in the Wellington region of New Zealand. One of the first things I observed was the dedication that these young ‘would-be future national/international players’ had for their sporting endeavours; not at all unlike what I witness every day in our college.
To be able to compete at a high level and to achieve great results, whether it be on the sporting field or in the academic world, takes conviction, dedication, tenacity and a heck of a lot of hard work. As an adult I believe that we all appreciate this fact, whereas for a child, who is obsessed with sport, the connection may be less obvious, particularly when there is a separation between college and sporting activities. One benefit in having a child attend IFS-ITS is that these connections are very real and made continually – on a daily basis, brought to the consciousness of our students by teachers and coaches alike.
Earlier in the year Greg Brownlow, our tennis coach, came in and spoke with the Stage 2 students. He talked about effort and its relationship to development rather than simply to results. This is something that I continually hear from all of our coaches.
Ever since Greg’s motivation talk, Todd and I have used the ‘Effort Scale’ regularly to help our students self-access their own progress. We aim for students to realise that provided they are prepared to work continually to improve their effort, be it in their sporting endeavours or in the classroom, then their results will be a reflection of that effort, regardless of their ability and level of skills. An improvement in effort equals development which in turn equals achievement. Wow, what an opportunity our students have with us at IFS-ITS!
Kind regards,
Rodney
Jackie De Vivo says
Great read thanks Rodney