School, sport, engagement and violence

Another week and once again more violence in our schools. I can't help but think that maybe if these kids, the kids who reach out for belonging in gangs and other not so positive associations, had something to belong to at school they could turn their lives around. It doesn't take much to give kids hope and a sense of direction.

We all know that sport can have a powerful influence on the lives of people, especially our kids. What if every student had an opportunity to play a sport or get involved in an activity where they could belong? Students engaged in their schools are much less likely to stray and more likely to develop positive relationships and set personal goals that don't include running with a gang.

School boards that experience this type of violence need to take a look at how their school day is structured and open up their gymnasiums and other area's such as the arts at lunch or at someother point in the day to allow 'other' kids to become involved in school life. How many kids who play on school teams get mixed up in violence and vandalism? I don't really know - but I'm pretty sure that the number is small. If this correlation does exist why don't we do something about it?


School violence has unfortunately become a major topic of discussion in the past few years. Many excellent school and community leaders have idea's to help solve this problem. One of the easier solutions would be to take a serious look at how we can engage more students in sports and other positive activities.

Intramurals in the new school year

With so much going on in September it may be difficult to think about starting up your intramural program. But if school teams can get off the ground, so can the intramural program.

By putting students in a leadership role, the intramural supervisor/co-ordinator can lighten their load substantially. Your athletic council, student council, intramural leadership team or PLF 4C class can do everything for the program other than provide supervision.

At this point the students should be marketing the program by creating intramural posters, making PA announcements and making a 5 minute presentations to classes. Creating interest and a 'buzz' for the program is essential. In addition, the students can organize and supervise student sign up sheets and working with the teacher to make a schedule and to decide what games and activities will be offered.

Give the students the ball and let them run with it. Almost every quality intramural I have seen has strong student leadership.

We don't have to do everything - sit back and let the students lead. Everyone will benefit.

Plan now for September

Planning now is critical if you want to have a successful intramural program next year. Getting intramurals on the school calendar and gymnasium schedule in June is important for a number of reasons. Most importantly, you will know when you're having intramurals and other teachers in the school can plan around your time in the gym. You will have also set a precedent that intramurals must be part of the yearly gym schedule.

To plan successfully, intramural leaders, coaches and any other potential users of the gym must reach an understanding that the gym must be SHARED by all. No teacher, no team, no group should have a monopoly on gym time. The fact is that the gymnasium does not belong to any teacher or coach - it belongs to the students - and as the adults, we must check our egos at the door and decide what is the best use for the student body.

I have spoken to many teachers that have complained that they have 'no gym time' for intramurals because the coaches get it 'all the time'. This is a ridiculous situation that continues to exist in many schools.

We are always encouraging our students the value and importance of sharing - maybe we should take some of our own advice.

SUPER TEAMS will put your intramural program over the top!

We always had a good turnout for our intramural program, but we were looking for a way to maximize student participation, a way to put us 'over the top' so to speak. About six years ago we started our Super Team program - an initiative that increased our yearly intramural participation from 150 - 200 students to over 400.

The idea of Super Teams is to encourage students to make a team with their friends and stay with this 'team' for the entire school year. We want students to make intramurals a year-long committment. You can add players to your team throughout the year if you wish. To qualify as a Super Team you must play our first activity - indoor soccer - without forfeits (failure to show up) or unacceptable behaviour. Once you have done this you can qualify as a Super Team. You must fill out an application form(available on the RTB website) listing your team members, team name, division (grade level and either boys of girls league), and enclose $4.00 from each player. With this money plus the funding we supply as a school, we purchase team t-shirts for each member of each intramural team. The students select their own shirt colours (maximum of 2), team name and shirt design. We get the shirts printed at a local t-shirt company.

These shirts create an amazing buzz and excitement in our school that lasts for weeks and the impact on the intramural program and student participation is tremendous. Students show up to play as a team in their shirts and they absolutely love it! Students want to be a part of something at school and the Super Team program provides this. We have had many teams stay together from grade 9 right through to grade 12.

The Super Team program had a positive effect on getting more girls to play. We usually get 6 - 10 teams in the Junior Girls Division (grades 9 and 10) and similar numbers in the senior division. In addition, we put a major focus on getting the grade 9 students involved.

The Super Team program is now an expectation at St James Catholic in Guelph, and as a physed department, it is a great expectation to try to live up to.

Gym time - Only for the athletes?

I was in Windsor last week doing a workshop for 40+ teachers from the Windsor - Essex Catholic school board. One of the challenges that was raised by a secondary teacher was that there is no gym time for intramurals after school. After school Monday - Friday, 4 - 5 hours per night is reserved strictly for the students who play on inter-school teams. Now, this particular school is a large one, it has three lunch periods with the gymnasium in use every period. Therefore, there is no time for intramurals.

People who believe in this ' athlete's only' model throw their hands up in frustration because there is no time for intramurals. They believe that they have no control over the gym time situation. This is simply not the case - we make decisions about who gets to use the gym every day. We have control over who gets to play and who gets to watch. Do the same 12 students who play on the basketball and volleyball teams at school deserve all of the gym time every night after school? Thinking about the bigger issues of physical inactivity and obesity, is this really an efficient use of gym space?

Schools that have double or triple lunch periods should reserve Friday after school for intramurals only. No team practices, no games and no tournaments. Reserve the gym for the other kids who want to play.

One of the top high school basketball programs in the province - I believe it was ST. Jerome's in Hamilton - has been running sporadic Friday after- school intramurals. They are so excited about the response from students they are looking to running intramurals every Friday. They are getting 60 - 70 kids every time out and the 'buzz' this is creating in the school is very strong.

We have control over gym time and we need to share it with every student in the school.