Learning to play for fun
EducationWorld June 06 | EducationWorld
While on the way to a wild animal park with three of my grandchildren (Christian (9), Cayleb (7), and Cara (5)), we got into a discussion about which sport each of them liked best. The boys recited their predictable list — football, basketball, wrestling, etc — until Cara spoke up. “I like baseball best,” she said. “Why is that?” I asked. “Because they give you candy.” Getting past the sugar part of it, what she was saying is that getting candy is fun. Hence, for her, baseball is fun — because that’s where she got candy! As I observe children playing sports today, I often wonder how many of them are really having fun. Are they going through the motions because their coaches and team-mates are so focused on winning? How many of them are really enjoying what they do? As adults, we ask ourselves “Are you enjoying what you do?” and make important career decisions based on the answer. But children don’t have to make career decisions based on their enjoyment. So why don’t they naturally enjoy sport? Why are they engaging in sports activity as a project assignment in which they have to win a medal at the end of it? For some strange reason, after a certain age, ‘having fun’ is never a good enough reason to do something. For most people there has to be a defined objective, a definite goal. Without that goal, they think an activity is not worth pursuing. In sports, the opposite is true. Playing for the sake of playing and having fun has led to the development of some of the best players in the world. No world-beating athlete started running and playing with the objective of becoming a world-beater. They played for fun. Recently I started refereeing high school basketball games — something I haven’t done in many years — and I’ve been amazed and dismayed by the difference in the demeanour of the players I see on court. The majority of them are stressed, tense, and focused only on the final score. All their eggs are in one basket — the winning basket. If they win, they are jubilant. If they don’t… Do you see this happening in your young baseball/ tennis player? Is play all about outcome, and nothing about the process? Is the overwhelming focus on winning taking all the fun out of sports? I believe sports is fun when three things are happening. First, when children are deeply involved in what they are doing. But being deeply involved doesn’t mean tossing and turning all night before the game, worrying that you won’t do well. It means looking forward to the game, dreaming about how you are going to make that fantastic catch or that great strike. It means that for you the smell of a baseball mitt is preferable to that of a $500 perfume, and you look forward to, rather than dread practice. Sports are fun for children when they feel a close kinship with fellow…