Sport Education Resource 1

Getting Started With Sport Education

OBJECTIVES:
OBJECTIVES
1. Provide checklists and suggestions for planning a Sport Education Season.

2. Offer guidance in decision-making processes when planning and starting your first
Sport Education season.

Generally, your Sport Season will include the following phases:

1. Preseason: This phase will include such as activities as player assessment in

games for the purpose of team formation; teacher-led skill instruction where
students learn about important skills; game tactics; game format; game rules; etc.;
instruction on scoring, keeping statistics; and refereeing; and learning about the
various duty team functions related to any equipment set-up. The games that are
played during this phase, do not count in the standings.

2. Season: The season starts with a festive opening day and any games played from
this point do count in the standings and will guide the seeding for games during
the second half of the season and/or possible post-season games, and

3. Post-season: This phase might consist of an end-of-season tournament with a

possible championship game, followed by a festive culminating event (for
examples see Chapter 10)

For a season to be a positive experience, thorough planning on your part is essential.

Especially when introducing Sport Education for the first time, it is important that students
first reactions and opportunities are positive. Thus, much of your planning will need to occur
well before the start of the pre-season. And as the pre-season starts you will find that the in-
between class planning and preparation will be significant as well.

Resource 8 on the CD-ROM has a folder with various planning worksheet templates to
assist you with preparing the necessary materials as well as making decisions prior to and
during the early stages of the pre-season. For example, they include a Season Preparation
Planning Checklist and First Days To Do List
Season Preparation Planning Checklist

This checklist takes you through a host of tasks and decisions that need to be made
prior to introducing Sport Education to students for the first time. The checklist covers
several areas that will influence your decision-making for your season design. They include:

1. District Calendar
2. Sport of choice
3. Students
4. Team Details
5. Duty Team Details
6. Facilities/Equipment availability
7. Complete Season length (incl. Pre-season; season; post-season)
8. Competition format
9. Daily Duty team/practice/competition schedule
10. Season Competition Schedule
11. Teacher's Instructional tasks
12. Complete Season Schedule
13. League Scoring system
14. Culminating Event
15. Assessment
16. Items to be purchased, and
17. Other items/questions
First Days To Do List

Once you have started your Sport Education season, you will find that the first few
days will include numerous tasks and activities that are entirely new for you and your
students. For example, the increased participation by students in shaping the structure of the
season, forming teams and offering input on a possible culminating event will require clear
and explicit directions on your part. Clear task boundaries and expectations will increase the
likelihood that your students will view this process as a worthwhile endeavor.

The process of completing these tasks during the opening days is in large part
dependent on the level of student involvement you are willing set. For some tasks, complete
and immediate student involvement is critical. For example, the management of all needed
practice and game equipment should be delegated to the days Duty Team. Such routines and
protocols can be taught quite quickly through good modeling, practice during the preseason
and reinforcement (e.g., via the awarding of Team Points that are part of the League Scoring
system).

However, for other tasks you will want to gauge your students readiness for
involvement. For example, a critical preseason task is the formation of balanced teams. This
can be accomplished in several ways (See Text Chapter 4 for more details). If you believe
your students are ready to take on this role, allocate planning time and class time to go over
the player assessment and team formation protocols.

Another example would be the process by which League and Team statistics are kept
up-to-date. This aspect of Sport Education offers an excellent opportunity for you to infuse
the use of technology into your program. In all aspects of scorekeeping, league and team
statistics the use of spreadsheets is strongly encouraged. If students are not familiar with the
use of spreadsheets, it would be necessary to dedicate time with the group of Team
Statisticians to teach this record-keeping process. If your technology resources are very
limited, it still should not keep you from engaging students in these processes. The resources
provided elsewhere allow for manual record keeping as well.

Remember that the increase in student ownership in a sport season is a process that
will emerge over several seasons. Be sure you keep a personal log to record the successes
and possible alternatives for use in upcoming seasons.
SEASON PREPARATION CHECKLIST

The tasks listed below are aimed at helping you find answers to many
logistical and pedagogical questions. You are strongly encouraged to record
the answers/decisions you make. This will assist you in making any needed
adjustments in future seasons.

Task / Question Answer(s)

1. District calendar
a. Scheduled "no school days"?
b. Assembly schedule?
c. Potentially disrupting events/factors (e.g., school schedule; weather)?

2. Sport of Choice
a. Game format (Modification)?
b. Game rules?

3. Students
a. Class size
b. Gender balance

4. Team details
a. How many teams?
b. Players per team?
c. How are teams formed?
SEASON PREPARATION CHECKLIST (cont'd.)
5. (Duty) Team roles
a. Captain/coach?
b. Team Manager
c. Fitness leader?
d. Referee?
e. Score keeper?
f. Team Statistician?
g. Team Scout?
h. Team Publicist?
i. Sports council?

6. Facilities/Equipment availability
a. How much facility (number of courts/fields)?
b. How long (number of school days)?
c. Sport equipment type (e.g., Balls/cones/bats/nets)?
d. How much of the sport equipment?
e. Supplementary Equipment (how many?)
i. Team jerseys
ii. Clipboards?
iii. Pencils?
iv. Referee jerseys?
v. Whistles?
vi. First-aid pack?

SEASON PREPARATION CHECKLIST (cont'd.)

6. Facilities/Equipment availability (cont'd.)

 vii. Team binders?
viii. Score sheets (can they be pre-printed)?
ix. CD player?
x. Notebook computer (league stats, team perf. etc.)?

7. Complete Season length (incl. Pre-season; season; post-season)

a. Total number of days needed?
b. Built-in back-up days?
c. Time/days needed for player assessment (i.e., for team formation)
d. Flexibility (i.e., if necessary, can season be extended)?

8. Competition format
a. Competition format (e.g., round robin; ladder?)
b. Number of days needed to complete full games schedule?

9. Daily Duty team/practice/competition schedule

a. Time needed for venues set-up by duty team?
b. Available time for pre-game team warm-up & practices?
c. Number of games per venue per day?
d. Length of games?

SEASON PREPARATION CHECKLIST (cont'd.)

9. Daily Duty team/practice/competition Schedule (cont'd.)

e. Time needed in between games (transition time)?

 f. Time needed for venues teardown by duty team?

10. Season Competition Schedule

a. Number of days needed for all meets/games/tournaments? (see also 7.b)

11. Teacher's Instructional tasks

a. How many days for teacher led class-wide practice of skills
b. Time and days needed for learning various roles?
c. Time needed for learning game protocols?

12. Complete Season Schedule

a. Outline for each day of the season
b. Make adjustments where needed (cancelled classes; short periods, etc.)

13. League Scoring system

a. How are competition wins and losses scored?
b. How do team points figure in the scoring system?
c. How are season champions determined?

SEASON PREPARATION CHECKLIST (cont'd.)

14. Culminating Event

a. Format of the event?
b. Location of the event?
c. How are awards (if any) part of the event?
d. How is festivity within the event ensured?
15. Assessment
a. What psychomotor outcomes are being assessed?
b. What social behavior outcomes are being assessed?
c. What assessment tools will be used?
d. When will assessments take place?
e. Which state/National Standards & benchmarks are being targeted?

16. Items to be purchased $$

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Total $0.00

SEASON PREPARATION CHECKLIST (cont'd.)

17. Other items/questions

a.
b.
c.
d.
Teacher's First Days "To Do" List
See also
Text
Teacher's Tasks/Decisions Chapter(s)

Introduce Sport Education 1

Select "modified" game format w. appropriate rules 5

Which Student Roles to include 3

How to introduce daily Duty Team tasks 7

Management of needed equipment 7

Decide on and introduce your assessment focus 9

If applicable, select students to Sports Board 3

Design Team selection protocol 4

Communicate w. Sports Board on Culminating event 3, 10

Form Teams 4

Have teams develop "team identity." 1, 10