Youth Sports and Education might seem like an odd combination, especially in today's world we are seeing more and more schools taking a hard look at their budgets and cutting many of their athletic program budgets as well as other programs and we as parents having to spend more money to allow our kids to play sports in or out of school. What parents and educators have either forgotten or fail to realize is that sports doesn't just teach about fitness, teamwork and competition. Sports can teach a whole lot more. You might even say that sports IS education.
In order to see our children advance we need to integrate fundamental education into our sports programs and sports programs into education curriculums. I am not talking about advancing our children to the ranks of professional athletes, I am talking about teaching them more of the things that they need in life. Think about these things...
Math:
Physics:
History and World Culture:
Philosphy, Strategy and Thought:
- Sun Tzu's The Art of War - Think about it, in many cases sport can be considered an analogy for warfare. Here is a example of how Sun Tzu and Football matchup. (Yes, the link might be a selfish self-promotion, but the point is there. Look for upcoming blog posts on how else Sun Tzu relates to sport.)
Literature/Reading:
Did you know these things? More importantly, do your kids know them? Are there other curriculum ideas and sports out there that are closely related? Sure there are.
Math, physics, history, culture, literature and philosopy are all things that our children are going to need when they grow up and go out into the "real world". If we embrace sport and use it to teach our children, think about how much better off they will be.
