Monday, December 1, 2008

Practical Experience


A requirement of the class is to apply teaching and communication principles through volounteer work. To do this, I gladly helped coach my younger cousin's soccer team while home on break. My cousin, Rebecca, is eight years old and all of the girls on the team are around the same age as well. The league involves the girls playing on a smaller field, with games that are shorter in length. Since all of the girls are very young, they are still unfamiliar with proper strategy and the role of each position. We held practices with the focus on enjoyment along with learning and experience. We had them do shooting, dribbling, and passing drills, as well as a little gameplay. During both regular games and practice, we had the girls try out various positions including goalie so that they could become familiar with each. Each time they were put in, they needed reminders of cues and how they should defend the goal. At this level, the children forgot about strategy once gameplay was in action and played the typical beehive soccer that young children do. They all just ran towards the ball. This experience was rewarding. I thouroughly enjoyed being with the children and helping them improve their skills while having fun.

1 comment:

Exergame Lab said...

Kate,
Did you feel differently working with the team? Which teaching tools did you explicitly use besides cues?