Sponsor Appreciation Article Series
– 6 articles that highlight PHE America supporters –
Gopher has proudly served schools, athletic programs, community organizations, and countless institutions and programs for the past 70 years. We are dedicated to providing you with the products and services you need to increase activity, improve fitness, develop skills, create fun, and reach a higher standard of learning and living. We are proud to serve teachers, coaches, athletic directors, program directors, and athletes around the world and are committed to offering the best equipment available to help both young and old lead more active and healthy lives. This article was previously published in PHE America in 2019.
Climbing Walls Promote Lifelong Fitness Habits Among Youths
Sponsor Appreciation Article Series
– 6 articles that highlight PHE America supporters –
Everlast Climbing was founded in 1991 with a focus on indoor rock climbing and hand holds. In 2008, Everlast Climbing became a part of PlayCore® – the country’s leading manufacturer of play and recreation solutions. This partnership has brought Everlast Climbing where they are today with a dynamic line of climbing walls and other equipment to inspire physical activity in more and more individuals. The following article was originally published in PHE America in 2016.
Getting “Gritty” About Teaching Grit
What exactly is grit? Is grit naturally engrained in students or is it a skill that needs to be practiced and nourished? Teachers already have so much curriculum to teach, is grit really something that should take precedence? The answer is a resounding YES! We need to teach students what grit is and why is it so important to their future success. Grit is what drives our students’ success and achievements. Grit is passion and perseverance for long and meaningful goals. It is the students’ ability to persist when obstacles get in their way. Many students are naturally talented, but grit does not come from talent. Without grit, talent is only potential. Strength and grit come from overcoming the tasks you thought were impossible.
Grit is having direction and commitment to your goals. You can take two students of equal ability and have them compete. Who wins? The one who demonstrates the most grit. The “gritty” student will study and practice more. They will not quit. If they fail, they will try again. They will stick with their goals even when it appears impossible. They will continue moving forward even after experiencing setbacks and failures. I am not saying talent does not matter. Talent just does not automatically lead to success. There has to be both talent and effort present for achievements to happen. I was reading up on grit and was inspired by Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology and pioneer in grit research. Through her studies, she noticed that “where talent counts once, effort counts twice.” She used the below formula to explain her findings:
Purposeful Competition
Purposeful competition has the potential to be one of the most growth-enhancing experiences for youth. The tragedy is that sports and other forms of contest have as much potential for harm as benefit, and relatively few coaches and physical educators have been prepared with the knowledge, training, and skills needed to avoid the pitfalls and guide youth toward purposeful competition.
What is purposeful competition? In short, it is competition at its best. To elaborate, it is useful to consider the two key terms: purpose and competition. Purpose, according to the developmental psychologist William Damon, is “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self, and of consequence to the world beyond the self” (Damon, Menon, & Bonk, 2003, p. 121). Well-designed sport experiences, which facilitate long-term goal development and “beyond the self” thinking, can provide a rich and valuable template for purpose formation.
Outdoor Education Resists Coronavirus: This is How Creative Physical and Health Education Can Be
As our sports teams were looking forward to traveling across Europe, ready to compete with international schools in Lisbon, Berlin, Valencia, and Paris, the first spring lockdown changed our lives. Virtual sport skill sessions and fitness challenges became the norm and placed athletes in front of screens rather than spending time on the courts, the fields, or in nature. As we started a new school year school in August, we were very fortunate to be able to return to campus. We were full of hope to start the fall season and jumped into practicing and playing games with local athletic teams from Zurich and Basel. Even though our community could not be there to cheer from the sidelines, they watched the live streams from home, a new highlight for school life. But, again, with a second wave of the virus hitting Switzerland in November, we were forced to suspend competitions.
At that time, the International School of Zug and Luzern (ISZL) Athletic department together with the Middle School Physical and Health Education team was exploring new options for our students to enhance the regular school day. The focus shifted to recreational sports which would increase the time in the fresh air, where masks could be taken off when participants were socially distanced. We were amazed by the quick support we received when connecting with local clubs and authorities to investigate the outdoor education options in our region. The first couple of weeks, students played disc golf, Speedminton, archery, pitch, and putt-putt golf, no matter whether rain, shine, or snow. Our local resources became the new “gym.”
How Health and Physical Education Have Evolved: Teaching Children from the Inside-Out
[2 Minute Read]
As I’ve visited with many administrators and teachers across the country this past year, it has been fascinating to hear the stories of the many ways our profession has changed since the beginning of the COVID 19 Pandemic. It’s been transformative to see the ways we, as educators, have changed. Among the narratives that have made headlines in education around the past year, one continues to rise to the top as the way we will forever remember this transformation: We must teach children from the inside-out.
Rock Climbing & the Tokyo Summer Games
[2 Minute Read]
There’s nothing more exciting to those of us that love rock climbing than the fact that it’s going to be in the next Summer Games!
Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed the games for a year. In anticipation of the Olympic Games this summer, why not infuse a little Summer Games of your own into your climbing program? Here are two competitive climbing activities that have been modified for a Traverse Wall®
