More Than Sport

We have always believed that for young children, sport should be more than just about acquiring skills, trying to be the best in and “winning” in their age group.

• Decision-making – when playing games, children need to decide whether to dribble, pass or shoot? who do I pass the ball to? do I bunt or try to hit a home run?
• Problem solving – a lot of the activities get the children to work out “how” - we don’t over coach the children
• Science and Physics – the children need to work out trajectory, speed, timing, distance, direction when performing a wide range of sports skills at Shaws Little League
• Increasing their vocabulary – each sport has its own language and the children get exposure to those words which they may not experience at other times
• Socialising – there is always time for the children to chat and laugh with each other, even during the activities
• Teamwork – when we make the children pass the ball to each other, the coaches emphasise the need to help each other to get better and not just fool around.  We use tug of war to help the children to learn to work together too.
• Discipline and Behaviour – we always emphasise listening, trying hard and playing nicely 
• Developing Resilience – they get sweaty, they get tired, they may fail, but they always get back on their feet and get stuck in and try again
• Dealing with success and failure – we do not let the children win all the time; they don’t hit home runs all the time; however we help them “to look forward to the next play”.  Even when the children succeed, we challenge them to do better.
• Physical development – we keep the children occupied and busy as much as possible – thus, they will improve their cardiovascular system, bone density and muscle development.  A little bit of sweat, grunt and puffing each week is ok we think
• Having fun – going hard, improving, getting sweaty, playing nicely, being with other children and giving you that delicious sweaty cuddle at the end of class