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“We don’t stop playing when we grow old,
We grow old when we stop playing” |
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I’m a big fan of using games and play, not only for youth/novice athletes, but also for our high level/elite population and even our adult population.
Why?
Because we are a species of play; we all crave aspects of play and fun, and the use of games can be a great tool to enhance this. After all, sports are nothing more than simple games.
Movement and play is something we should all enjoy and appreciate far beyond a sporting context. This appreciation can be cultivated by embracing this environment as a coach and immersing your athletes in a fun, freedom and exploration based environment.
Games provide athletes with opportunities to interact with information rich environments that lead to adaptive and emergent movement behavior that is a hallmark of all skilled movers.
Even when games don’t fully replicate a full sporting environment, they can be beneficial by providing an affordance rich environment, teaching about space and location within an environment, and enhancing coordination and control within a dynamic environment.
More so, one of the main outcomes I want in my coaching, is to facilitate creative, adaptive athletes. I believe creativity and adaptability is a crucial component, not only to athletes, but to overall human development.
So I hope you find some things in this book that can be useful for your environment whether that's with college teams, youth athletes or the general population.
Why?
Because we are a species of play; we all crave aspects of play and fun, and the use of games can be a great tool to enhance this. After all, sports are nothing more than simple games.
Movement and play is something we should all enjoy and appreciate far beyond a sporting context. This appreciation can be cultivated by embracing this environment as a coach and immersing your athletes in a fun, freedom and exploration based environment.
Games provide athletes with opportunities to interact with information rich environments that lead to adaptive and emergent movement behavior that is a hallmark of all skilled movers.
Even when games don’t fully replicate a full sporting environment, they can be beneficial by providing an affordance rich environment, teaching about space and location within an environment, and enhancing coordination and control within a dynamic environment.
More so, one of the main outcomes I want in my coaching, is to facilitate creative, adaptive athletes. I believe creativity and adaptability is a crucial component, not only to athletes, but to overall human development.
So I hope you find some things in this book that can be useful for your environment whether that's with college teams, youth athletes or the general population.
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This book provides over 225 different game/play activities that are separated into individual games, partner game, and team/group games. All the games come with a link to a video demonstration and an excel sheet with all the games listed, so coaches can edit, add and use the sheet as an easy guide to carry with them. The games are split into categories
You're sure to find a great addition for your workspace, or at the very least re-evaluate the important role games can play for athletes. |