FAIR PLAY IN SPORT Teacher Notes We are well aware that the America’s Cup loss to Switzerland including the television Black Heart and Loyal campaigns plus any All Black rugby losses always highlight some real shortcomings in our attitude to sport as a nation. The positive side however is that we can take these opportunities to highlight and to emphasise the FAIRPLAY VALUES of sport that we try to instill in our students at school. Thinking About Sport Pose the question ‘Why do we play sport ?’ to the class. Allow several minutes for group discussion and then list responses on the board. Younger students may need some clues such as … to develop skills for enjoyment to meet other people to learn new games After students have listed answers, challenge them as individuals to rate the group answers in order of importance. Individuals report back their ratings. Encourage students to justify their answers. After further discussion, can the class agree on a rating system? How many times was winning top of the individual lists? Where did it come in the agreed class ratings? What About This! Introduce the following scenario. Their group is a young and not very experienced sports team. They have entered a competition for the very first time. The team knows that the competition is very strong and that they are unlikely to win a game all year. What would they do? Would they give up the sport? At the end of the season the whole team gets together for a team party. Some of the team are rather despondent and say they will not be playing again next year. The student’s job is to highlight the positive things that came out of the year in an effort to change the minds of those wishing to leave. Have students prepare a short speech to deliver to the team. Include the following points. playing with friends and having fun being part of and contributing to a team learning and performing new skills feeling good about the sport knowing at the end you have done your best. What Happens When New Zealand Loses? Most students will be aware that many unkind things are said about our sports teams (Team New Zealand included) when they lose to other countries. Do the students think that there is too much emphasis on winning? Have students complete some library research to find the populations of some of the countries we compete against in both team and individual sports. How do they compare with New Zealand’s population? Older students could be challenged to find cities with a similar population to NZ, eg Melbourne, Manchester, Seattle, Vancouver. In the light of this information, can the students make any positive comments about our successes or recent losses in sport? Extension Activities Students design and award a ‘good sport trophy’ to give to a class or team member. What criteria will they use? Class Discussion. ‘Competition can be both good and bad’. Write and deliver two speeches - one as the captain of a winning team and the other as captain of the losing team. How should a good spectator or supporter behave? Write a charter for being a good spectator. Play the team game - ‘Who’s the Winner?’ from the Hillary Commission FairPlay Manual (pg 32) where every time you score point the other team get a point. Students write a letter of encouragement to your favourite sporting personality or team stating why their efforts and skills are really appreciated. Extra for Experts Talk about the purpose of the Black Heart America's Cup TV campaign. Do the students think that it is 'sporting' to run a campaign to treat some of our most famous sailors as traitors because they are sailing for another team? Point out that many New Zealanders were members of other overseas syndicates. Why didn't we single them out? Can they think of any other New Zealanders who have played for overseas teams? Are we still proud of them? (Mention that one of our most famous New Zealanders - Sir Edmund Hillary - was a member of a British expedition. Why do we hold him in such high regard?) Challenge students to come up with a code of conduct as to how we should treat New Zealanders who excel in any sporting endeavour - no matter what team or country they represent. Do students have any personal sporting heroes who are not New Zealanders? Why do they regard them as heroes? Do you have a lesson you would like to share with other teachers? Simply email us an attached Word, Works or PDF file and we will add it to our library. Don't forget to include your name and school so we can acknowledge your work. Click on the email icon below.