Learning in PracticeVolume 3 Number 1 December 2019

Girls Got Game

Alex Butt PDHPE Teacher and Girls Sports Project Leader

Ali Cox Director of Girls Sport

About the Authors

Alex Butt is currently a PDHPE teacher and Assistant Director of Girls’ Sport. She is the co-ordinator of Barker’s Touch Football, Rugby Sevens and Netball programs and has been involved in various administration roles at both ISA and NSWCIS sport’s level. Her passion is using evidence-based research to guide emerging practice in sports development and performance in schools.

Alison Cox is Currently Director of Girls’ Sport. Within this role, she has had the opportunity to influence a change in the perception of girls’ sport not only for the Barker girls, but also the broader Barker community. Alison has a clear passion for the promotion and development of schoolgirls’ sport and her ability to do this at multiple levels is evident in her appointment to a variety of administrative positions across the ISA and NSWCIS representative sporting pathways.

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Dr Matthew Hill Mrs Amanda Eastman Dr Greg Cunningham

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Susan Layton

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Barker Communications

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Learning in Practice2019 Vol. 3 (1)

© Barker Institute 2019

Girls Got Game

Alex Butt PDHPE Teacher and Girls Sports Project Leader

Ali Cox Director of Girls Sport

Abstract

The benefits of sports participation and positive correlations with academic improvement and wellbeing have been well researched. However, the positive outcomes are not an automatic consequence of participating. Single Sport Specialisation and the concurrent over-focus on development of sport specific skills in children is leading to higher levels of injuries and burnout. It is time to “change the game” in youth sports and the Girls Got Game program is trying to do just that – a program designed to be fun and engaging while currently designed to build capacity of our students to positively engage them in long-term sports participation.

Sport is an integral part of the students’ journey at Barker, designed not only to provide involvement in physical activity, but also to enhance character values, improve academic outcomes and contribute to the essential social and emotional development of students. However, positive outcomes are not necessarily an automatic consequence of participating. Often, we make the wrong assumption that sport aline is an environment that fosters these desirable characteristics and do not attend to the fact that instead it is something that has to be intentionally cultivated (McCarthy et al 2016). With this understanding and as we transition to coeducation, Barker embarked on a Girls’ Sport project to start with a blank canvas, dismissing notions of what sport “should be” to what sport “could be” to design an environment that intentionally cultivates a transformational experience for students in sport.

The Girls Got Game program which our Year 3 students participated in throughout Term 1, 2019 is a direct outcome of this project. The best way to describe the program is a cross between a ninja warrior obstacle course and Free G gymnastics with some agility games also in the mix. However, the program was underpinned by three main concepts – increase self-efficacy of the students within the realm of physical activity, increase exposure to movement patterns to build a solid base for future sports participation and, of course, fun.

One of the keys in providing an engaging experience for girls in sport is building an absolute resolute sense of self-efficacy within the domain of physical activity. Self-efficacy is defined as the belief in one’s own abilities, specifically our ability to meet the challenges ahead of us and complete a task successfully (Akhtar 2008). Importantly, it underpins an individual’s values, beliefs and persistence in activities and directly relates to reducing barriers to girls participation in sport which generally relate to a fear of judgement centred around appearance and ability (Office of Sport 2019).

Psychologist Albert Bandura (1997) identifies that to develop self-efficacy, important components include performance accomplishment – seeing evidence that you have succeeded; vicarious learning – watching and learning from others and verbal persuasion – hearing positive statements from trusted others. The Girls Got Game program involves

attempting various obstacle-based courses where students challenged themselves with movement concepts – celebrating that it is ok to fail (fall off equipment) and it is important to just keep trying to achieve (get back on and give it another go). Place this in an environment surrounded by positive reinforcement from coaches and peers and students problem solving the course challenges, you create an ideal environment to develop not only movement confidence but also a positive self-efficacy underpinning a strong belief that anything is possible. It was particularly special to watch the growth of the students as they challenge each other and celebrated success when they completed an obstacle that may have been difficult first time round.

The second concept involves changing the way we think. Previously, it was thought that simply by mastering fundamental movement skills at an early age a person would become physically literate and develop the necessary skills to participate in sport. However, emerging research from around the world of sport is identifying that developing movement patterns (or foundational movement competencies) is becoming more important as our risk averse society encourages children to spend more time on video games and mobile phones as opposed to climbing trees and playing street games (Tompsett et al. 2014).

Despite focusing on developing sport specific skills and attempting to reach the golden 10,000 hours as early as possible – this hyperspecialisation has not seen the production of a generation of superstars but rather higher injury and burn out rates (Frisch 2018 & Sagas 2013). It is interesting to note that the work of Moesch et al (2011) identified that “future elites” actually practised less on average in their eventual sport than near-elites through most of childhood – reinforcing the need for multisport participation. We suggest that we take this one step further and also reinforce that “Training for sport doesn’t always have to look like that sport” (Frisch, 2018).

Importantly, finding a way to challenge the rigorously structured learning environment in sport to one of exploration with a focusing on falling, rolling, jumping and balance is essentially important not only for movement confidence but also for increasing cognitive flexibility (and improved academic outcomes). It was mind-blowing to see the creativity of the girls on display. Their confidence developed over the 6 weeks to leap, jump and push the boundaries of movements further and faster – indirectly creating an environment that involved very little instruction but one in which students independently solved problems and found new ways of doing things resulting in a strong development of movement concepts (or general athleticism).

Fun is obviously a given in any program and the number one reason why kids want to play and be involved in sport. In a 2014 Study from George Washington University – nine out of ten kids said that fun is the main reason they participate and when asked to define fun – they gave eighty-one reasons and winning was ranked at number forty-eight. Providing an environment that encourages development through challenge while concurrently engaging students in a fun way is no easy feat. The inspiration gained from Jeremy Frisch (Achieve Performance USA) was fundamental in ensuring a base for the development of the Girls Got Game program. However, by modifying the environment and “changing the game” we have ensured a positive first experience of involvement in sport, laying the necessary foundation of movement competencies for these students to thrive both on and off the fields/courts long term in Barker’s sports program.

The end result of taking a risk with the Girls Got Game Program and effectively “changing the game” was the development of a group of girls that are strong, confident, embrace challenge and know that anything is possible (as long as you keep trying). This effectively leaves us with the question as to whether we are ready to change the game across our entire junior programs and place a greater emphasis on fun and general athleticism (focusing on a variety of movement challenges) over the traditional sport-specific fundamental skill development? The research suggests it is now time to take the risk to not only maximise the holistic outcomes from sport but it is indicating that it will also help improve our sports team’s results.

References

Akhtar, M. 2008. What is Self-Efficacy? Bandura’s Four Sources of Efficacy Beliefs. Positive Psychology UK. Retrieved from http://positivepsychology.org.uk/self-efficacy-definition-bandura-meaning.

Bandura, A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. Freeman and Company, New York.

Frisch, J. 2018. A Return to Play: Movement Training for Youth Atheletics. Simplifaster, USA. Retrieved from http:///simplifaster.com/articles/play-movemet-training-youth-athletes.

McCarthy, J. & Bergholz, L. & Bartlett, M. 2016. Re-Designing Youth Sport: Change the Game. Routledge, New York.

Moesch, K., Elbe, A.-M, Hauge, M.-L. T. & Wikman, J. M. (2011). Late specialization: the key to success in centimeters, grams, or seconds. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 21, 282-290.

Office of Sport NSW. 2019. Her Sport Her Way Strategy. State of NSW.

Sagas, M. 2013. What does the Science say about Athletic Development in Children?, University of Florida’s Sport Policy & Research Collaborative. Gainesville, Florida.

Tompsett, C. & Burkett, B. & McKean, M. 2014. Development of Physical Literacy and Movement Competence: A Literature Review. Journal of Fitness Research. 3. 53-79.

Visek, A. & Achrati, S. & Manning, H. & McDonnell, K. & Harris, B. & Di Pietro, L. 2015. Fun Integration Theory: Towards Sustaining Children and Adolescents’ Sport Participation. Journal of Physical Activity & Health. 12(3) 424-433.

Notes

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