School Sports

1. What sports did you practise when you were at school? Do you know these sports:

volleyball, cross-country running, cricket, rugby?

2. Do you have fond memories or bad memories of those sports?

3. Did you participate in any other sport outside of school?

4. Are there any sports that you practise now but used to hate doing when you were younger? Did school or PE teachers colour your attitude towards physical activity?

5. Is there a stereotypical PE teacher? Is it a positive or negative stereotype? Did they favour particular pupils?

Read article here: School Sports Reading

6. What is your reaction? Do you recognise your own experience in any of the stories mentioned in the article? Was your choice of sport/your enthusiasm ever affected by a random comment from a PE teacher?

7. In the article, the director of Youth Sport Trust said that sport should not focus on competition. In the UK, competitive sport at school is now frowned upon - it's now more important to be inclusive and to favour participation rather than winning. What's the situation in your country - are children encouraged to be competitive?

8. Most adult sporting activity is done for health/fitness/social purposes -  do you think that school sport should reflect this e.g. aerobics instead of athletics, gym work instead of team sports?

9. If you were the headmaster/headmistress of a school, how much of the timetable would you give to sporting activity, and what activities would you favour?

10. If you were looking to start doing sport, would you choose a team sport or an individual one? Why?

11. If you were looking for a coach/personal trainer/fitness guru, what type would you choose: a 'drill sergeant' type, or someone more easygoing? If you go to a gym/class, what sort of atmosphere is there? Is it competitive, or something more collegial?

12. "Schools hire coaches whose objective is to win rather than to instil a love of sport." Do you agree?

13. Does your company have interdepartmental sports leagues/teams? Which disciplines are represented? How seriously are they taken?

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Situation

You are the headmaster/headmistress of a secondary school who wants to modernise the school's sporting curriculum. You're interviewing for a new PE teacher to help you do this. Decide on whether you want the school to be competitive in its sports, or more inclusive in its approach to physical activity.

Interview the candidate (your teacher), outlining what you expect from the new recruit.

..........

Discuss quotes

"If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?"

- Vince Lombardi

"One man practising sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it."

- Knute Rockne

"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.

 In other words, it is war minus the shooting."

- George Orwell

"Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Student Handout PDF: School Sports

Sports Psychology

 1. What is the most important sense we have? Why?

a) taste

b) smell

c) vision

d) touch

e) hearing

2. How would you rate your eyesight? Do you wear glasses? When was the last time you had your eyes tested?

3. What we can see with sharpness and clarity is the equivalent to:

a) The surface area of a book

b) The surface area of a car

c) The surface area of our thumb

d) The surface area of an ant

Watch video here: Sports Psychology Video

4. What was your reaction? Did you learn something new, or is it an area which you are already familiar with?

5. Do you think that 'keeping your eyes on the prize' can be applied to other areas than exercise? Will work tasks become more attainable if I focus on the 'finish line'? If you've answered yes, can you give an example?

6. According to the speaker, waist-to-hip ratio measurements predict perceptions of distance in relation to exercise; do you think her argument is statistically strong enough? Or are these figures just correlations? Can we use waist-to-hip ratio measurements to judge motivation in other areas?  

7. Is the 'mind's eye' exactly the same as eyesight?

8. What other things influence not exercising?

9. In which areas do you keep your eyes on the prize?

10. Has there ever been a time when apples looked larger or smaller to you? Does hunger correlate with portions of food? Does dieting/breaking a diet reduce the perceived size of foods?

11. According to the speaker, our perception of other people's reactions is filtered by our own mood. Do you know of any strategies that can help us to mitigate mood-based snap judgements? Should we pay more attention to our moods?

12. Here are two images that exploit 'trompe l'oeil':

 Trompe l'oeil 1

Trompe l'oeil 2

Do you know of any examples of trompe l'oeil from your country?

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Situation

You are a renowned psychologist doing an interview on a local radio station. You are a firm believer in the concepts of keeping your eyes on the prize.

Expound your theories to the host (your teacher), answer any questions/criticisms he has.

..........

Discuss quotes

"Keep Your eyes on the stars, but your feet on the ground."

--- Unknown

“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the heck she is.”

― Ellen DeGeneres

“Getting fit is all about mind over matter. I don't mind, so it doesn't matter.”

― Adam Hargreaves, Mr. Lazy's Guide to Fitness

“Humans see what they want to see.”

― Rick Riordan

Student Handout PDF: Sports Pyschology Outline

Photo: Marcus-Aurelius