Raise the Bar Intramurals

School, sport, engagement and violence

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:47:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:28:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:23:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:26:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:00:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:42:00 +0000

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.

Empowering Student Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:57:00 +0000

It's amazing what students can do when we give them the chance. One of the questions we have to ask ourselves is 'how can their leadership skills best meet the needs of the school' - or more specifically, the athletic or physed department?

Every strong intramural program that I know of has strong student leadership. These students do not have to be athlete's - as long as they are organized and responsible, they will do a great job with your intramural program. Here are some tips for organizing your student leadership group:

- have a group relevant to the size of your program; if you plan to do intramurals 3X a week have at least 9 - 10 students; this way the students can be put in groups of 3 and be responsible for one day per week

- set up an application process for those interested; you may choose to interview the candidates or just pick them
- make sure that you always have at least 50% returning for next year; therefore it is important not to have just senior students on your council

- make sure the students on your council are also playing in the program
- reward your student leaders; a t-shirt, pizza lunches, and recognizing their efforts are very important
- allow them to make decisions; let them be creative

Strong student leadership takes a large amount of the work and responsibility off the teacher. They will do the set up, officiating, PR and whatever else factors into your program.

It takes a co-operation and team work to run a quality intramural program. Make sure that your students are put of this effort!

Successful Schools

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:37:00 +0000

Over the past month, two elementary schools in Guelph have gone from no intramurals to full programs that are thriving. Victory PS and Sacred Heart Catholic School are perfect examples of how a team approach can make intramurals happen.

In both schools, the principals have taken a lead role in the intramural implementation. In addition to support from teacher's (more than one) and parents, the programs are well organized and supervised with little strain on the staff. Both schools have also empowered a student leadership group - their sports association or intramural council - to take leadership positions on a daily basis. These senior students are responsible for setting up the gym, officiating the games and making announcements and posters to advertise the program.

The principals at both schools cannot believe the number of students who show up every day to play. The great thing about these schools is that it took only a matter of weeks to get the programs up and running from scratch.

Both schools are sending students to the Raise the Bar student leadership conference in the fall and both are also scheduled to be part of the Raise the Bar staff leadership workshops in April, May and June.

If you have questions, comments or a success story - please share!

The Challenge in Physed

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:11:00 +0000

How do we get more students involved in healthy activities that will enhance their chances of being healthy and active for a lifetime? This is the question that has been asked for years - and one that educators are still struggling with.

At the end of the day, we must ask ourselves - 'how do we make physed and related activities relevant to the school population?' How many students see physed and the extra - curricular programs as something that they can get involved with? Does what we offer meet their needs?

Some schools and school boards do a great job providing inclusive opportunities for students, but on the whole, schools continue to prioritize extra-curricular programming around the elite athletes and the school teams. This approach is no different than the english department running extra help sessions for the honour roll students. Does that make sense? We continue to focus the majority of our attention on the students who need our assistance the least. Will this approach allow us to answer the opening question above? Does this mean that we should do away with school sports?

No, not at all, but we must take a serious look at what we offer the rest of the school population - the students who are not involved in either physed or extra - curriculars. This is where intramural and other inclusive programs come into play. By creating a 'total health and physical education' model at your school involving the curriculum, varsity sport teams and intramurals we can offer programs and opportunities relevant to every student.

Welcome!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Friesen) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Welcome to the Raise the Bar intramurals blog. I will be posting comments and observations related to physical activity and the building of better intramural programs throughout the province. Your comments and ideas are welcome!