Upcoming Sports Events
|
SafeClub was officially launched on 25th June 2009 with the support of the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation. Over 40 people representing sport from across NSW attended the luncheon launch to hear how SafeClub makes safety easy for community sport. A presentation from SafeClub’s Jane Nethery and Kristy Abbott included an overview of the program and the research evidence while Michelle Hanley from Football NSW covered the benefits of SafeClub from a sport perspective. Sports from across NSW are now signing up to partner with SafeClub to make their sport safer. If you missed the launch and would like information on SafeClub click here. |
|
On Sunday, 10 May, ARL Development and the Sunshine Coast Gympie Rugby League will launch their inaugural U15's and U17s Girls Competition at the Beerwah Bulldogs JRL (Roberst Road, Beerwah) between 10am and midday. The Launch will involve Under 15 teams from Caboolture, Bribie Island, Coolum and Beerwah whilst the Under 17s will involve Nambour, Bribie Island and Beerwah. |
|
| Read more... |
Australian Indigenous Mentoring ExperienceInspiring Youth Cricketer Jack Manning-Bancroft has helped University of Sydney Students get underway a mentoring program linking Indigenous year 9 and 10 school students from with mentors from across all university faculties. The underlying philosophy of AIME is to empower young indigenous people through positive role modelling and relationships, building self esteem and resilience, encouraging schoolattendance and progression to tertiary education. |
|
| Read more... |
Refugee Youth Soccer Development Program
|
|
| Read more... |
Upcoming Research
|
The third round of focus groups and fieldwork has been completed and a General Summary is being collated. Thanks to The Southport School, AB Paterson College, Rockhampton Girls Grammar School, Sapphire Coast Anglican College, Wagga Wagga Christian College, Al-Faisal College Auburn, Football United and the Burwood and Mosman Cubs for their participation. Preparation for further focus groups with parents, coaches and PDHPE teachers is underway. |
| General Summary of First Round Focus Groups (2007) [90 Children] |
|
General Summary of First Round Focus Groups [90 Children]. Data has been collected from rural, regional and urban New South Wales and Queensland. Mentioned sports Rugby League, Soccer, Rugby Union, Tennis, Swimming, Riding bikes, running/athletics, basketball, skateboarding, surfing, cricket, dancing, AFL, Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, hockey, netball, V8 Supercars, golf, playing with dogs, games at scouts. “Ah, my name is … and I basically like any sport” “I absolutely love sport, without I’ve got nothing [sic]” There was particularly high impact on the values of children in Scouts/Girl Guides due to their focus on placing physical activity next to community work, and in Martial Arts which emphasises strict principles and codes of behaviour. It works best when this relationship between sport and other activities is structured. What is sport? The young people overwhelmingly claimed that sport does not have to be “organised”. For example, school or club team sports. While the children were well aware of all the high profile and visible organised sports they emphasised that all outdoor activity, even walking the dog, could be considered sport. There were some arguments about this definition of sport to start with, but by the end of any debate the answer was unanimous. “I like volleyball, touch, and I ride on my scooter and swim” “My favourite sport is wrestling with my brother, we get the pillows and bash each other” “we race through the mud, and play games with ropes” “we’ll go in the street and we do some like BMX riding in the street, and then we do some big jumps, that’s the best” “Well, I really, really like fishing, and we just, me and my brother just muck around at home and we like do wrestle each other in the backyard, just kick a ball around and we’ve got a punching bag and we just use that and stuff” Why play sport? The key reasons for playing sport are friendship (acute), fun (acute), to be healthy and fit, to be mentally healthy, and to win (least). Children particularly enjoyed get togethers after games/activities/sports. “It makes you feel better that you are not alone” “you get all these like friends that you could be with for years” Young people do not think you need sport to make friends, but that it does help. While the children were aware of the importance of sport to being healthy there was recurring commentary by some girls who resented ongoing policing of their diet. It would reach the point where they complained of being too weak to continue playing, or too hungry and tired to concentrate. One girl said that when on a diet she gets “puffed out”. Some girls complained of parents and coaches and teachers teasing them because they were “too fat” for their outfits and uniforms. This made them feel very uncomfortable, and they would sneak out to consume junk food in response, such as hot chips and milkshakes. When asked what they learn from sport the children claimed that the main things were how to be friends, and teamwork. Some of the children claimed that you can learn to be “violent” and “ too controlling”. Fun and Competition Children have trouble translating the “fun” they have playing sport in early primary years to the increasingly competitive world of sport encountered as they get older. Interviewer: “Do you care if people are no good at sport?” Interviewees: “Nah” (in chorus and unanimous) “I can’t kick, I like kicking it (the ball), but I can’t” “Well you’ve got to just have fun and if you win it’s fun but if you don’t win it doesn’t really matter, you’ve just got to have fun” “You feel like you want to win but if you don’t win it’s not the end of the world” Competition meant excitement, feeling tired, getting a rush, “working the muscles”, and not winning. While some of the children knew they had to be competitive and were good at sport, they also reiterated the position that trying hard and doing the best they could is how they understand fun in sport, and hanging out with friends is fun. Over-competitive adults and other children were spoken of negatively. Some parents and coaches were said to encourage physical aggression and hyper-competitiveness, and this attitude distressed the children, who voiced a strong dislike for this attitude. Many of the children could clearly recall negative experience related to parent and coach behaviour, and had stories to pass on. “When parents yell at their kids they [children] just bottle up all their anger and then let it out on someone who doesn’t deserve it” Repetitive training was also considered negative “If they get you to do too many things, like too many times, you get bored and quit” Some of the children tried to explain negative and demanding adult behaviour. “Her mum is just competitive, she just wants him to do well” When children won they said it felt good, but this was more about the attention they receive than the actual winning. Creativity Young people regularly expressed the desire for opportunities to “invent” games/sports, rather than just play established codes. This was reflected in the games they played in the park, backyard or at the beach. Scouts were particularly good at fostering sport as “games” and adding creativity to physical activity. There was a popular affection amongst children for modified sports, which meant that everyone had more involvement in the game and got to “touch the ball”, and where winning was not important. “I just finished the rules of my own extreme sport. It’s called extreme shore-y tackling … so it’s high tide and you get junky waves smacking down on the sandbar and you tackle them and just run and it’s their turn” Venue and Equipment Young people emphasised a preference for outdoor sports. While indoor sports were considered fun, it was the fresh air and being outside that appealed the most. “There is room to run flat out”. If a venue is rundown or unsuitable for a sport children did not enjoy the experience as much. Children were prepared to ride their bikes or walk long distances to better venues. “the park is just dirt” “the fields are really bad” Children remember clearly if equipment is broken, or uniforms are not “up to standard”. When equipment and uniforms looked “right” the children felt better playing sport. “the swimmers make me look professional or something” “I don’t have real [football] boots” Most children had access only to the most basic sporting equipment at home. This is particularly the case in lower socio-economic regions. When equipment broke children knew that the expense of fixing that equipment – for example pushbikes – meant an inability to participate. Children in low socio-economic areas rely on their pushbikes to get to sporting venues and activities. Environment Children were well aware of the limitations of their environment. Rain meant no sport in many rural areas due to a lack of indoor facilities. Children in the city resented being kept indoors when it was a beautiful day outside. “I can’t ride my bike, there is too much traffic” Animals affect participation. This was particularly acute for recently arrived Australians who were unsure about the animals. “The black and white birds, they attack you, we don’t go to the park if they are there” “The ants here bite you!” ‘’There are crazy birds” Some children would like to be able to change sport to accommodate weather conditions, but feel they have to play the same sport whether the climate is suitable or not. “There’s lots of hills so I skateboard” “When it’s really hot you don’t feel like moving” “When it is too cold you can’t ride your bike” The best times to play sport is in the morning [hot area], and when it is wet and moist you can slide”. Choice Young people were concerned with the lack of ability to choose their sports until later grades. “But we don’t get to choose if we play or not and we don’t get to choose what sports you do” “Like you should do, um, variety”. Choice of sport is most influenced by what friends are playing, what they feel comfortable wearing (tight-fitting clothing worried girls), what parents play, and to a far lesser extent what they see in the media. The most diversity is at high socio-economic schools. There is also a concern that the sports that can be chosen at school are “old”. Dancing at school is popular, but considered boring because they learn “the jive”. They want to learn hip hop and listen to “proper” music. New sports are also desired, for example skateboarding, rock climbing, yoga “It’s like two year old music. They expect us to like the chicken dance and like Simon Says”. “We do the nut-bush, so boring”. “like something really different other than soccer and cricket, like rock climbing” “Yoga at school would be fun” Participation Most children in private schools have access to equipment, sports, and transport (which is provided by parents), and did not talk about cost very much, unless it was exorbitant – like riding horses or moto-cross. For children from low socio-economic areas cost was at the forefront of their concerns. Football boots, uniforms, registration, drinks on game day, transport (parents always working, involved in shift work, or undertaking heavy physical labour work) were discussed many times. These children deliberately played less expensive sports such as touch football and soccer in the park, or went swimming at the creek or beach. They would often comment on other children’s sporting prowess, access, equipment, or uniforms. Travel was a key problem for participation, with many children having trouble getting to and from sports fixtures. This is more the case in lower socio-economic areas where parents worked shifts, did not own a car, had many children, and undertook physical labour. Immobility affects a child’s access to sport, even with public transport, which can be considered expensive. “My Dad grumbles when he has to drive me to sport” “We don’t have a car, it is a long way to walk to soccer” “My Dad sleeps in the afternoon” Distance plays a crucial role in participation and understanding of sport. This is particularly acute in rural and regional areas. Rural and regional children wondered why city children never had to come out and play against them and how they always had to go to the cities. They were well aware of the pressure and cost for their parents to enable this. Also, backyard sport was restricted in some ways. “I find it’s kind of hard for me to go out and do sport in the afternoons because I live on a farm away from everyone … the next door neighbour is like five paddocks away” However, some children knew that the space and environment in rural areas gave them certain benefits too. “Me and … are on properties, so we ride motorbikes” “There is lots of room to do everything” Any poor relationship experiences, children to children and adult to children, see children dislike returning to play Eg. a breakdown in a friendship or a coach yelling at someone. Any pressure from a coach or parent to “succeed” lessens the desire to participate, and will mean negative reviews. Some children quit sports because their teacher pushes them too hard. It was a complaint that if one had to play too much sport, or do it all the time, it would become “pretty full on” and they would want to quit. When there is “too much emphasis on sport you get bored”. “Most people say you can’t, girls can’t do stuff like that ... my mum, my father, my brothers, my cousins” Positive experiences in a sport see recurring desire to participate again in a particular sport, and in turn means children encourage others to join in. When sport isn’t “full on” children enjoy the training and games more. Some children cannot play sports because of church responsibilities “I go to church and Mum and Dad aren’t going to let me stay and gotto soccer, and um, Saturdays are too busy. I kind of like find that really frustrating, because I would like to do something I like.” “I don’t have any friends at church it’s all old people and its kind of boring”. Safety is also a barrier to participation “My mum’s very paranoid about … she thinks it’s very dangerous and where we used to live in the …. And there would be no danger around there … mum is just so paranoid that I’ll get stolen or someone will take me but I don’t know I’m just not allowed outside” Many children relayed stories about bruises, injuries, feeling sore, and being scared. “I don’t like getting hurt” “I got 13 stitches” “I dislocated my shoulder” “grazed all the skin off my leg” “scratched all my foot” “I played netball for two years, and last year my friend broke her arm, so then that’s when I kind of quit and decided to go to soccer and touch. Netball can be pretty violent”. Some children liked the bruises and feeling sore, girls and boys, and compare scars and injuries. “I broke my collarbone … some kids think your tough” (12 year old girl) “Tackling feels good” (11 year old girl). Sporting Role Models Visiting sportspeople or organizations stay in the memory of children, and mark out an interesting and fun day. Nearly all the children recounted stories of such visits. They remembered the team and sport, not necessarily the names of players. “It’s exciting to meet them (sports stars), when you know who they are”. “I look up to people who teach me to play” “I look up to my Mum because she’s always on the sidelines cheering me on and giving me ideas and stuff” “Mum’s like my lucky charm” “dad takes me fishing” “I look up to women sports stars, they’re nicer” (boy) “I look up to my dog, he never says anything mean” If a parent is unfit the children are well aware, and express shame or embarrassment. “My Dad runs at a walking pace” “My mum looks like a worm when she does push ups” “we want them to be great cricket players or great basketball players and all that, we don’t want them to be into drugs and drinking and stuff like that, it’s just wrong” “Andrew Johns and Ben Cousins are druggoes, but Kevin Rudd went to a strip place” “You’d be really sad if you saw somebody like that you really looked up to, do something really bad” “I was embarrassed once. We were watching a game and my Mum and Dad got drunk, and we were sitting in the front row … and the security guard came and told us to sit up the back. And they poured wine all over the person in front of them” “Extreme” and different sports stars (mountain climbers, skiers, surfers, moto-cross, and the like) were admired. There was a romanticism about what these sportspeople see, hear, and experience. This is particularly the case for children whose access to such activities is remote – cost, distance, exposure. Watching Sport Children love going to watch sport, especially “big-ticket” versions like the professional leagues. “I like going to NRL games because there’s no ads and you get to scream and yell”. “I love the smell of petrol at the races [V8 Supercars]. I don’t drink it. But I love the smell” (girl). “we get sticks that you whack together” Going to see a family member play sport is also fun, although girls found that the emphasis is on seeing brothers play, and less on them or their sisters and mothers. “Well I think everybody needs their parents to come and watch ‘em and support ‘em … I used to play with a kid who was a really good soccer player and his parents never used to come and see and watch, and a scout approached him and said, ‘Do you want to come and try out for my rep team?’ and he asked his parents if he could and they said he couldn’t because they didn’t think he was good enough, because they’d never seen him play” Often children complained about watching sport on TV. They find it “boring”, except when it was a sport they played. Girls complained about never seeing “their” sports, but how there is so much football. “I don’t watch sport on TV because the commentators are so annoying”. “I am playing netball when they show it on TV” “I love watching wrestling on TV [WWF]. I used to watch every match” (girl) Gender Girls complained about boys playing sport aggressively “Boys tell you you suck and things like that” “Boys can be too agro” “guys like hog the ball … and your like pas it pass it and you’re like open and they’re just like pass it to someone who has got people all over them” But boys also complained about girls “I don’t like playing with my sister she bashes me up” (boy) And some girls like the competitiveness of boys. “the boys are more serious” Most young people like mixed sports, especially the youngest. The younger children (up to 12 years old) do not think boys are more competitive, or are better at sport. Some older age groups 14-15 begin to establish differences. But young children do not see the point in pursuing this line of questioning. “Because there was a girls team playing cricket down there and some people just think cricket’s a boy’s sport and then you see the girls playing and then they can just play the same as all the boys” Boys tend to accept the “self-actualisation” ethos that masculine sport offers while girls disliked “standing out” from the rest of the group. Young boys did not mind watching women play sport, but older boys thought it was of a lesser standard. Girls were resigned to having to watch men pay sport. Some boys encouraged girls to play sport, and the younger girls liked this. But the older girls also found some encouragement patronising. “if a girls kicks it once he goes , player of the match, and then the coach claps and yeah” Australia and Sport The children recognise this link with Olympics. And spoke about how they see much on TV about Australian sportspeople. “But like you don’t hear of very many Chinese people or Japanese”. Children from high socio-economic areas tended to be aware of sport in other countries – like Brazil, France. But so did children who were recently arrived Australians, some of which were refugees. These children understood that while Australians are keen on sport so are many other countries, and in some cases they say more so. The children believed that Australia was a sporting nation, and that it was important so other countries knew we were “fit”. When not Playing Sport TV is watched, but children far prefer MSN. Many parents police TV use but not the computer, which is “disguised” as homework. Computer games are used to replace sport when children want to “get away” from everyone else. “Playing computer games is like where you can escape into your own world”
Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
||||
Latest News
