Pipeline Activity in Full Swing

 By Margaret Thompson Mentor

The Sports Challenge Team has had an exciting and fulfilling few days at our annual program at St Joseph’s Junior in Singapore. Year 4’s to 6’s came in the masses to join the leadership program so that they can boost their potential and increase their understanding of holistic education towards better skills.

The program was led by Programs Coordinator Jacqui Finnegan, with the help of coaches Ryan Harding, Kieran McDowell and Margie Thompson. We worked with 84 students over two days to teach the students how to be creativity, innovative and understand themselves as well as others better.

With only two full days we had to work hard to not only do the class work challenges, but to have loads of fun as well with the outdoor experiential tasks! Our activities worked through challenges in communication and teamwork, and with everyone taking to the tasks and showing their different types of leadership skills. They also showed us many different types of food (hotdog sushi) and fun games that they liked to play.

The last day was filled with a soccer tournament and a Pipeline team activity. There was lots of sweat, mud, creative thoughts with improved interaction by all. Everyone was so enthusiastic about the challenges that they were off doing them well, before we had finished explaining the objectives! Prizes were given out to teams who not only completed the task but had to show great teamwork and communication skills during the activities. 

Our time at St Joseph’s was fantastic and the students made us feel so welcome. Being with such a large variety of ages really helped provide different views and ideas for each activity. All the students said they loved the program and wished we could have stayed longer, and so did we! See you all next year!

For this year’s annual Sports Challenge trip to Singapore we found ourselves back at St Joseph’s Institution to conduct both a leadership and a focus program. We had a great team lined up from all corners of Australia to deliver the programs, with Jacqui Finnegan flying over from the head office in Perth, Margie Thompson from Brisbane, as well as Kieran McDowell and myself from Melbourne.

 It would be an understatement to say there was a lot of excitement in the room when the boys arrived for their program. On the back of programs over the last few years Sports Challenge has developed a reputation amongst the St Joseph’s students as something they definitely want to be a part of!

Throughout the program the boys were put through their paces by the Sports Challenge mentors. They were challenged to learn and think about life skills such as team work, goal setting and communication, and then had the opportunity to put these skills into action in the group ‘hands on’ activities. It was great to see the boys contribute so openly in group discussion, and then to see some competitive spirit and great leadership shown in the activities. Each boy received their own journal not only to work through during the program, but to take with them to refresh their new skills when needed.

St Joseph's Students Enjoy Swamp Crossing

A personal highlight was watching the boys battle it out in an activity we call ‘The Swamp Crossing’. This involved the boys having to transport an entire group of 6 – 7 over an imaginary swamp (the grass in the middle courtyard) without touching the ground. To do this they are given mats or magical ‘lilypads’ as we like to call them which they can step on. The contest came right down to the wire, despite all teams having setbacks and difficulties to overcome along the way. Fantastic teamwork was shown by all.

 Overall I really felt like the boys gained something from their time in the program. Even if it’s just one skill they can take away, or a positive influence one of us had on them in some small way, then I would consider the program a success. Big thanks to Sundaram (Head of Department, Student Services) for supporting us in every way, and to the boys also for putting in a great effort! Well Done.

 We have already many emails from the boys via our websites ‘e-pal’ feature and hope to receive many more!

This is where Sports Challenge started back in 1992 and since that time programs have been completed in leadership and fitness and skill development in PE, along with Professional Development of the teaching staff.

Along the way each year, Bill would find delight in cooking up a storm at the end of each program, sadly until September 2006 when he passed away. Since that time there were no more BBQs out of respect for Bill. However the first staff of Sports Challenge including Wildcats basketballers Mike Ellis and CJ Jackson rallied behind Garry as a mark of respect for Bill to re-establish the sausage sizzle.

The sausages might not have been as meticulous as Bill would have cooked, but the smiling faces of the Guildford children said it all. Thank you Bill!

As a guest of the Aspire Academy, Garry Tester spoke about his world first data base of fitness and skill testing for identifying elite performers at Primary school age of 9 years to 12 years.

The data base developed since 1982 is the largest in the world with over 32,000 students tested throughout Australia and Singapore.

Garry Tester and Carl Lewis Sharing Old Times

The 7 item fitness test and 10 item skill test cover all fundamental skills required for most sporting endeavours. To easily understand the data the scores for fitness and skill are converted to a Fitness and Skill Quotient equivalent to the old IQ Scale. A mean of 100 points and standard deviations of 15 points. Therefore the pool of elite performers for fitness and skill would have scores of 130+ or two standard deviations above the mean. Scores of the very best have been recorded at 190+ points (see Sports Challenge website www.sportschallenge.com.au).

 With Delegates from all over the world attending the conference, Garry Tester highlighted how the data can not only be used for Talent ID, but for the development of physical educators and sport in schools. Further parents can receive an individual report showing how their child performed compared to the school and National means. This allows genuine ownership of fit and healthy children from community, to schools, to parents.

As Carl Lewis explained “If we can get our kids actively involved in sport at an early age, the more opportunities there are for potential Olympians to emerge and we need reliable data to measure these children”.

With the very much appreciated support of the St George Foundation, I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in the South Australia Sports Challenge program for the third consecutive year. The team making the trip consisted of Jacqui Finnegan and Richard Heptinstall (from Perth). The other half of the lineup were making a significantly shorter flight over from Melbourne, and included myself (Ryan Harding) and the rookie of the group, or ‘pup’ as I like to call him, Andrew ‘baby face’ Diviny, on his first Sports Challenge trip.

In the past we worked with a number of different schools across the week, including Elizabeth Grove, Craigmore South and Munno Para. This year however we focused only on Munno Para Primary, who had signed up for both the Fitness and Skill Testing and the Focus Program.

Ryan Harding (Sports Challenge Mentor) revving up the students for their next challenge.

This was exciting news for me, because of all the schools I have worked with as part of the Sports Challenge program; I can honestly say that Munno Para Primary School would be close to my favourite. The staff are always kind and welcoming, and the kids bring great enthusiasm and energy to the testing and program.

Over the course of the week we tested every child in the school (barring absentees and year 7’s), and some great results were achieved. We like to encourage the kids to focus on trying their best and supporting their fellow classmates, and to their credit they generally did both of these things really well. The kids battled their way through challenging testing, including sit ups, squat jumps, backwards rolls, 12 minute runs and many more, sometimes in close to 40 degree heat!

The other part of the week involved the Focus Program, in which a group of selected students spent time with us every day learning a variety of ‘life skills’ which they can apply in their own lives. It’s always great to see the kids attitudes transform from hesitant and somewhat skeptical at the start of the program, to really coming out of their shell and taking on Leadership roles in the different activities and games.

As an added bonus we were fortunate enough to be involved in the running of the school athletics carnival. This provided another opportunity for us to see some great individual performances by the kids, as well as great encouragement and support from their peers and parents.

Overall I think that staff, students and the Sports Challenge team would all agree that the week was a great success. Special thanks to Munno Para’s Principal, and close friend of Sports Challenge, Leah Vogler, who was largely responsible for making it all happen. We would also like to thanks PE and Sport Coordinator Deb Heading who gave us all the support and assistance we could ask for.

Another memorable Sports Challenge Program!

Dear Craig,

I am writing to let you know how happy I have been that (school name omitted) incorporated the Sports Challenge during winter to cater for the less sporty chaps.  ________has been so much happier about the sports/PE challenges since this was instituted.  At this point his dyspraxia holds him back and a negative attitude has made things even worse and hard for him to deal with.  The sports challenge program with the emphasis on personal improvement rather than competition certainly caters much more to ________ needs. 

I am very hopeful that a similar program is continued as I know there are a number of boys that can benefit, then _______ does not feel so singled out either.  I will continue with additional help outside school as I have been.  The support and back up of the school is essential for ________ and I have noticed small but positive steps in the right direction.

Regards

______________

 The group would meet twice a week for some ‘Sports Challenge’ activities and some soccer, all mixed in with a bit of fun. Led by Senior Mentor Richard Heptinstall, these activities worked on developing the group’s people skills by challenging them to tasks which involved high levels of leadership, teamwork and communication, and provoked their creative thinking and problem-solving skills when faced with some unique kinds of puzzles. The boys were certainly up to the challenge, being full of interesting thoughts and opinions and showing results well ahead of their age.

 The soccer brought a different sort of challenge to the boys, who were not always the most skilled when it comes to sport, and started off the program with raw, undeveloped soccer skills. But with the aid of the highly experienced soccer expert John O’Connell and having the brilliant ball control skills of Calum O’Connell to take inspiration from, the boys showed massive improvement throughout the program. This improvement not only came from general soccer skills, but also came about because of a strong emphasis from the Sports Challenge team on having the right attitude to the game and to each other. Being part of a team means making use of everyone’s ability to get the best out of the group and supporting each other when things aren’t going so well. This was something that the Wesley boys really started to understand as the program went along and by the end, showed skills in this area as good as any team around!

 Most importantly sport is about having fun and enjoying ourselves and there’s no question that everyone in the group, students and coaches, definitely had a great time. And through these great experiences and fond memories, I’m sure there will be many more goals kicked in the future!

Richard Heptinstall- 26/9/2011

 Our biggest message to the kids was that the testing wasn’t about being the best, it was about trying your personal best (PB) and it was great see every kid have a genuine crack at the testing activities which ranged from throwing and jumping, to flexibility and aerobic endurance tests.

There were some fantastic individual efforts (particularly in the 12 minute run which can be quite gruelling for primary school kids), but perhaps the most pleasing aspect was the amount of encouragement and support the kids would give their peers as they waited in line for their own testing. This positive attitude towards fitness is what this program was about. Enjoy the beautiful school grounds by getting involved in physical activities and games at recess and lunch time.

 Healthy kids is what Pakenham and Sports Challenge want! We are sure by the way the students performed, the future for Pakenham students looks great.

 Although we generally have a fantastic time at every school, there is something special about the kids at Lyndale. Many of them (particularly the ones who were selected for the program) come from difficult circumstances in their home lives, ranging from disadvantaged to just plain tragic. I always feel like their enthusiasm and unassuming attitudes towards the program is symbolic of how much it means to them to have positive mentors in their lives. People who care about them and want to see them succeed in life.

 The kids fully immersed themselves in the program (their favourites team activities were toxic waste and swamp crossing) and relished the opportunity to all be leaders at different times.

 My personal highlight of the program was the presentations during our last session where John organised for parents of the children, as well as senior staff members to attend and watch the kids receive their awards. It was heart warming to see these kids get some public recognition for their efforts.

 We look forward to going back next year!