About a month ago I registered to officially run a Punt, Pass and Kick competition at the middle school. I got the rules, score sheets, balls and tees. This was going to be great. I figured that we would start with the 6th graders on day 1 and end with the 8th graders the following week. This was all part of our daily lunchtime activities program at the middle school.
So we set up cones, a 100ft measuring tape, the score sheets and the ball we were using for the day, supplied by the PP&K organization. An announcement was made earlier that morning at the school. We waited for the rush of competitors.
Let me back up a second. Let’s say you don’t know what the Punt, Pass and Kick competition is. In short, kids get one chance to punt a football, throw a football and kick a football from a tee. Distance as well as accuracy is important. The winner is the one who has the highest total feet of the three disciplines. For more information check out the PP&K website.
Back to our story. So the kids are let lose for lunch and here they came…all five of them. That’s right, I said 5. Come to find out the kids had no idea what this competition was. After seeing them compete I quickly surmised that they were never taught how to punt or kick a football and that most of them could hardly throw a football correctly.
Is it that they are playing too many video games? Don’t get me wrong, I love my fair share of Halo. Maybe they are watching too much television? Again, I too need my fix of reality shows on a daily basis, but then again I know how to throw a football.
Come to find out, students get little time playing football or learning about it in PE. Instead they are playing Frisbee golf (really?), street hockey and lots of soccer.
At first I was appalled that these kids knew so little about football. Then I though about it. PE for me when I grew up was mostly about football, basketball, kickball, and dodgeball. We didn’t play soccer, disc golf, street hockey, la crosse or any of the other cool sports kids play these days. Yes they still play dodgeball and kickball (thank god!), but they are being exposed to so many other neat activities and I think it’s great. I had the option to play three different after school sports, football, basketball and baseball. Kids these days have many more options.
As recreation professionals this gives US more options as well; clinics, pre-season skills and drills programs, prep programs, etc. For example, one of the sports that is offered at the middle school is volleyball, however it’s only for 8th grade girls. This allows me to offer an after school program for the 7th grade girls that would prepare them to make the 8th grade team the following year.
There are a lot of great sports out there that are becoming more and more popular. Offer classes that take advantage of these up and coming “sports”: triathlons, roller hockey, dodgeball leagues, rock climbing, sport stacking, jui-jitsu, fencing, and competitive jump roping.
As soon as the flying broom is invented I’ll be the first one to have an after school Quidditch program. Oh, why did I have to be born a Muggle?
