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Social skills
through sports activities provides children
and facilitators a wide open spectrum of
creative avenues to implement an age appropriate,
challenging,
open ended curricula in a safe nurturing
environment where children can experience
using gestural, physical and visual aides as
a vehicle for appropriate social
interactions
Why is a Sports Class beneficial for my
child?
As social organisms, humans have a basic
need to belong to and feel part of a group
and to learn how to live and work in groups
with different compositions and for
different purposes. Sports/Gross Motor Play
serves several functions in satisfying these
needs and developing these social and
emotional life skills. For example, children
of all ages need to be socialized as
contributing members of their respective
cultures. Numerous studies indicate that
play with others gives children the
opportunity to match their behavior with
others and to take into account viewpoints
that differ from their own. Thus, sports
play provides the rich experience children
need to learn social skills; become
sensitive to others' needs and values;
handle exclusion and dominance; manage their
emotions; learn self-control; and share
power, space, and ideas with others. At all
levels of development, sports play enables
children to feel comfortable and in control
of their feelings by: 1) allowing the
expression of unacceptable feelings in
acceptable ways and 2) providing the
opportunity to work through conflicting
feelings. (Creasey, Jarvis, & Berk, 1998;
Erikson, 1963; Goleman, 1995; Piaget, 1962;
Rubin & Howe, 1986; Rubin, Maioni, & Hormung,
1976; Rubin, Watson, & Jambor, 1978;
Sutton-Smith, 1997; Vygotsky, 1978)
Because play often involves physical
activity, it is closely related to the
development and refinement of children's
gross and fine motor skills and their body
awareness. As children vigorously and
joyfully use their bodies in physical
exercise, they simultaneously refine and
develop skills that enable them to feel
confident, secure, and self-assured. In
societies where children experience pressure
to succeed in all areas, confidence and
competence are essential (Berk, 2002;
Fromberg, 2002; Frost et al., 2001; Holmes &
Geiger, 2002; McCune & Zanes, 2001; Murata &
Maeda, 2002; Santrock, 2003).
“Very often the normalcy of sports is the
most important thing a child needs…Sports is
an international language, and so it brings
a credibility about its importance. Sport
helps people come together. Sports is a
language children understand, and this is a
way to inform, to educate, to bring in, to
make young people feel less vulnerable.”
Carol Bellamy, ex-UNICEF Executive Director,
at an Olympic Aid Roundtable
Evidence also suggests a strong relationship
between sports play and cognitive
development. Studies indicate a positive
relationship between play and student
learning. Research identifies improvements
to attention, planning skills, and
attitudes; creativity and divergent
thinking; perspective-taking; memory; and
language development. (Clawson, 2002;
Creasey, Jarvis, & Berk, 1998; Gardner,
1993; Howes, Droege, & Matheson, 1994).
(Kumar & Harizuka, 1998; Lieberman, 1977).
(McCune & Zanes, 2001; Smilansky & Shefatya,
1990; Sylva, Bruner, & Genova, 1976) (Dansky,
1980; Holmes & Geiger, 2002; Pepler, 1982;
Sutton-Smith, 1997) (Burns & Brainerd, 1979)
(Jensen, 1999, 2000; Saltz, Dixon, &
Johnson, 1977)
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