Parents

No point in reinventing the wheel

Sport for Life

An excellent resource for parents has been produced by the Canadian Sports Centres entitled, Canadian Sport For Life - A Sport Parent's Guide

The document was written by a team of experts on Physical Literacy in Canada who in my opinion are the World leaders on the subject

Canadian Sport for Life

Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) is a movement to improve the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada. CS4L links sport, education, recreation and health and aligns community, provincial and national programming. LTAD is a seven-stage training, competition, and recovery pathway guiding an individual’s experience in sport and physical activity from infancy through all phases of adulthood. CS4L, with LTAD, represents a paradigm shift in the way Canadians lead and deliver sport and physical activity in Canada. 

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Life expectancy

According to Canadian Sport for Life, our children have a shorter life expectancy than we do.

To counteract this, CS4L and B2ten have collaborated to create activeforlife.ca 

This is a site that will help improve the quality of the lives of children as well as their experience in sport and physical activity. It will describe best practices regarding physical literacy and will offer the tools necessary to help children become active for life.

Active Movement - Movement as learning for 0 - 5 year olds.

Another very interesting document is a document put together by an organisation called Active Movement from New Zealand

Active Movement is an initiative that is responsible for promoting the importance of physical activity and movement for young children to develop active lifestyle habits. 

The Active Movement initiative embraces movement as a fundamental learning strategy for the 0 - 5's age group, and helps to develop and strengthen the relationship between body and brain. 

Active Movement is about engaging in quality physical movement experiences which develop and enhance the emotional, social, cognitive and physiological growth of the child.  Active Movement embraces the development of the whole child.

For further information check the link below -

http://www.sportotago.co.nz/index.php/active-movement

Check out the Introduction to Active Movement information PDF at -

 http://www.sparc.org.nz/Documents/Young%20People/An_Introduction_to_Active_Movement_Koringa_Hihiko.pdf  

Ireland

My own personal experience with our two children when they were in Primary School  was not good when it came to PE.

The amount of times the short 30 minute weekly period was cancelled over a school term was not acceptable. Excuses ranged from anywhere between the renovations to the school hall or the hall was been used for the school play so it was out of bounds during the preparation for the play or one or more of the children were misbehaving so the teacher as punishment decided to cancel PE.

As an Irish Parent I would encourage you to challenge your child's primary school staff, their sports club and their sports coaches regarding the inclusion of Physical Literacy in their PE and training programme.

We in Tennis Ireland have incorporated Physical Capacities into our Coach Education Programme and our Continuous Professional Development Programme for qualified coaches.

Our pathway document can be viewed at -

http://www.tennisireland.ie/userfiles/File/Database/LTPDP.pdf
 
You can also check out the Irish Primary School PE Curriculum at the link below where you can see the Physical Capacities  that should be implemented in the weekly PE classes.

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/en/Primary_School_Curriculum/Physical_Education

If our children are to have the best possible chance of been a healthy person from a young age right through to when they become senior citizens or an active person who plays sport as part of their daily routine or to be one of the special minority who becomes a world class performer, they must receive the right amount of motor skill development starting at an early age delivered by the people who they spend most of their young lives with. Namely, parents, coaches and teachers.

Parent Lobbying Kit - Taken from Active for Life -

 http://activeforlife.ca/assets/Uploads/Parent-Lobbying-Kit.pdf

So don't delay, get your children active.

Roger Geraghty

Director of Development - Tennis Ireland

Please see below information sheets for tennis parents   Talent Identification for u10 children If you have been advised by your child's teachers and coaches that your son or daughter has sporting talent and you have aspirations for him/her to progress in tennis, we have set up a process where parents or guardians can submit a video of their child playing to the Regional Coach. On receipt of the footage, the Regional Coach will analyse your child’s ability and if the Coach is of the opinion that the young player has talent, he or she will come and watch the child play in competition. Please see below sample video and information sheet. Talent ID Sample Video from Tennis Ireland on Vimeo.