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.

No uniform, No changing - No problem! Let them Play!

We need to remove as many barriers as possible when it comes to getting our students playing either in the gym or outside. Making it mandatory for students to change into proper physed clothing for intramural activities will drastically reduce the number of students who participate. It really doesn't matter if they have shorts, track pants or even a proper physed t-shirt on. As long as they are wearing running shoes and remove belts, ties or anything else that could harm someone they should be able to play. With short lunch periods and limited gym time after school, we need to make it as easy as possible for kids to walk into the gym and play.

I spoke to two physed teachers from the Thames Valley board on Thursday after a workshop and they told me what a difference it has made once they removed the 'must change' barrier from their program. Instead of getting the same 20 - 30 hard core students who change, they are getting 100+ kids coming through the gym during the lunch every day. In addition, it's not the same core group of students either. Kids with running shoes who informally drop in to play 10 - 20 minutes of basketball, soccer, floor hockey or whatever else is going on that day.

The more accessible the gym is to our students, the more successful and relevant our programs will be.