Push Up Position Hockey

Two posts in a row about push ups – your students are gonna love me. This is actually a fun way to get students to do a little warm up before they begin a class of floor hockey or ringette. Your goal is to get students participating in fitness activities and fitness can take many different forms.

Two people in push up position face each other about 5 feet apart. Using a bean bad or ball (whiffle balls work well), try to slide or roll the object between the partners two hands. The object is not allowed to come off the floor. The partner may stop the object with only one hand. Games typically go until one player can not stay in the push up position any longer or when one player gets to 5 (which ever happens first).

If you use any short activities such as push up position hockey to satisfy the fitness component of your physical education program, be sure to keep track of the approximate time spend on each activity. For instance, according the grade 7-9 physical education curriculum guide  for Newfoundland and Labrador, doing 12 minutes of fitness related activities during each class would mean that a grade 9 physical education class would meet the 4 class minimum for fitness after 16 class.

If you have any ideas on how to incorporate fitness into other activities, I would love to hear about them.

Yours in Movement,

Coach

Partner Patty Cakes

Here is a little game I used to use during classes which focused on upper body strength – Partner Patty Cakes.

Two people in the push up position face each other. Each person remains in the push up position but lift their right hands and slap each others right hands. Then the left hands. They continue this until they are too tired to continued. To make it harder, try increasing the distance between partners or give them directions to follow (i.e. right, right, left, right left).

This is a great alternative to regular pushups and students can keep track of how long they can last and try to beat that value as the semester goes on. I wouldn’t suggest that this activity becomes a competition as it will lose the fun aspect for those students who may only be able to get a couple patty cakes completed.

Yours in Movement,

Coach

Gender Equity

It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy searching for resources and trying my best to organize the information that I feel is relevant to the site. With that in mind, I would like to start this post with a justification for its content. This site is and will remain a resource for endeavours of physical health and fitness.  However, there are some topics that transcend the boundaries of sport and fitness and require mention. Gender equity is one such topic, and it just happens to be the subject of this post.

Much of my discussion will be in response to a paper An Introduction to the Law, Sport, and Gender Equity in Canada published by the Canadian association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS).

It should be noted that the gender equity is law in Canada and the Canadian Charter of Rights Freedom ensures its application in all sectors, including sport. The interpretation of the “Charter” is in constant evolution and it is therefore essential that educators are familiar with the fundamental premise of the law and how it applies to sport.

According to the CAAWS, gender equity is “the principle and practice of fair and equitable allocation of opportunities and resources to both females and males”. This translates into “eliminating discriminatory practices which are barriers to full participation in sport programs, leadership and employment” (p.4).

These barriers are not always obvious in nature as a barrier may be: a team receiving fewer practice times compared to the same team of an opposite gender; scheduled practice or competitions at less convenient times; or maybe competitions scheduled with less qualified officials.

As part of the teachers compliment to this post, numerous case studies have been supplied to illustrate the legal and moral principles surrounding gender equity as they may apply to sport organizations. Each case study, originally published by the CAAWS, is a true story with names and locations altered for privacy reasons. Of particular interest are the landmark case Blainey vs Ontario Hockey Association, which made it possible for girls to participate on boys’ sports teams, when and where the opportunity to play on a girls’ team does not exist, and the human rights complaint Ann Peel brought towards Sport Canada.

Peel, a world class race walker, learned that her financial assistance was going to be reduced because she was pregnant. Not only was she able to train and compete, but an injury she had the year before which actually did affect her performance , was not seen as relevant enough to lower her assistance – but pregnancy was.  After Peel and several sport organizations failed to convince Sport Canada to change its policy, Peel lodged a human rights complaint. Before the complaint could be heard, the Minister of Fitness and Amateur Sport intervened and Sport Canada agreed to change its policy. As a result, pregnant athletes can now receive full funding so long as they state that they intend to return to competition.

The case with Peel is of particular interest because according to section 1 of the Charter, discrimination (even when proved to have occurred) is permissible when it has been decided that girls or women will be injured if allowed to compete against bigger, stronger boys or men, or that women cannot be admitted to male-only facilities on the grounds of public decency. It would appear that Peel was in no danger by continuing to train and compete because of her pregnancy, and therefore policy needed to be changed.  This example of gender equity not being obvious in all case has brought forth the term indirect discrimination. The CAAWS give this example to explain indirect discrimination:

An example of indirect discrimination in sport would be offering a coaching scholarship program to coaches with ten or more years of coaching experience in a sport where women have only had opportunity to coach for the last seven years. Women would not be eligible for the program because being female has prevented them from gaining the necessary experience to qualify for the opportunity.

I would like to finish this post with a request that each educator find a way to discuss gender equity issues with their classes. Using the sport realm as their basis, it may be easier for students to identify with the injustices that accompany many gender equity issues. It should be noted to students that these principles should not only be applied in the sport world, but also in private and public industry. The case studies which accompany this post in the teachers section are excellent and I also encourage educators to browse each one to find the ones that best suit your needs (there is one article about a man being discriminated against because of his gender and is not considered for employment as a result). Check out the Gender Equity lesson plan and supporting documents for the lesson on this topic.

Yours in Movement,

Coach

Action Planning

As a supplement to the information found in my blog from October 17th, 2009 title Be Smart – Goal Setting, I have posted a lesson and some work sheets for you. To view this material follow this link (click here). You will need a users name and password to access the links. You can get this by e-mailing password@scathletics.com from your school e-mail.

Be Smart – Goal Setting

I have always believed that setting personal and professional goals would help me succeed in life. This is no different when it comes to fitness. If you hope to achieve some level of success with your physical pursuits, you must set goals, it’s that simple. Well, maybe not, your goal must also be S.M.A.R.T. 

S – Specific in nature. Simply saying you want to run faster is not enough. You must decide what that means. May it is that you want to run 5 km in under 25 minutes or sprint 50m in under 11 seconds. Either way, you must be specific.

M – Measure. If you can’t measure it, how will you know if you have attained your goal. Setting a goal like “I want to feel better” is a great, but how will know when you have gotten there. There will be moments in your life when you will feel good, but if you can’t but a value to your goal, it will be increasingly hard to determine if you have reached you goal and to what degree you have succeeded.

A – Achievable. This probably goes without saying, but your goal needs to be something that you can actual do. No matter how well I write out my goal, and no matter hard/smart I work at reaching my goal, I am never going to be 6 feet tall – I can’t achieve that goal.

R – Realistic. People often confuse this point and the previous. There is a difference though. A goal could be achievable, but not realistic. You may be able drop 10 pounds before your sister’s wedding on January 1st, however, you also know that you only have 4 weeks to it and you will be eating more and exercising less over the holiday season. Achievable yes, but not very realistic. A better goal may be to maintain your current weight until the holidays are over.

T – Time oriented. This point relates directly to the first one – specific. Once you have designed your goal to as specific as possible, set a date that you must attain your goal. In a perfect world, you will be able to set ‘mini-goals’ along the way so you can see if you are on track to reach your ultimate goal.

Keep these points in mind when you write down your goals and you will off to a great start to attaining your goals.

TEACHERS – there is a lesson and some work sheets for you dealing with goal setting. Check out the Action Planning  blog from October 17, 2009.

 Yours in Movement,

Coach