“Straight from the horse’s mouth”
What Coach Instructors Think At An Inner City School
Athletic programs across the
country are facing challenges like never before. Finding cutbacks are causing
loss of programs and a need for external support from the community and fund
raising. Students are “couch potato laden” because of technology and health
issues related to inactivity. Students are facing big health concerns at
younger and younger ages with diabetes, high cholesterol and other medical
concerns. Mental and emotional problems are rearing ugly faces with suicides up
in the early teen years. Physical Education programs can be a “dumping ground”
for schools with regular classroom sizes exceed capacity due to teacher
shortages and funding cuts. Some physical education classes may have over 100
students making it a challenge to do effective instruction with limited
resources and classroom management obstacles. These classes might possibly just
be a holding tank until the bell rings. Physical education classes are the
training ground for future athletes and they are struggling. Here are the
thoughts from coaches at an inner city school.
1. What are problems/challenges that our
athletics programs face?
·
Lack of participation for most sports
·
Principals not hiring teachers that also coach
sports (so, low number of qualified coaches)
·
Parental involvement
·
Transportation home after practice
·
Snacks and pregame meals to provide athletes who
stay to participate
·
Adequate facilities
·
Student and parent commitment
·
Community involvement
2. How does it affect student education?
·
There is data to show students who participate
in athletics are more motivated and perform better in academics.
·
Behavior improves and referrals decrease when
students participate in athletics.
·
Students are more motivated who participate in
athletics.
·
Students who are not participating in athletics
but normally do don’t care about their academics
·
It’s a vicious cycle of participation and
motivation
·
Athletes become a family which is important for
students who don’t have one or don’t have support or push from parents to be
successful in school
. What are ideas for solutions?
·
Provide an activity bus for after practice to
take kiddos home
·
Create a full-time athletic director position at
each school to fund raise for snack and meals
·
Create corporate sponsorships (it's a full-time
job)
·
Get the principal at each site to understand the
more teachers that coach sports the easier it will be to reach the students
academically
·
Partner with the community to help with
facilities
·
More encouragement from school and parents
·
If more teachers and administrators attend
athletic events and support the students, the students will feel like someone
cares and maybe the support and enthusiasm will catch on with the parents and
community and student body.
The thing to remember is education is a circle of
relationships that support or hinder student success. The athletics programs
are necessary for students to be healthy; they supply motivation, stamina,
foster teamwork, problem solving, grit and perseverance. These programs might be the anchor or turning
point for many inner city students to graduate and pursue careers or college.
