Competing to Learn, Training Fearless Leaders
This past week has been filled with academic contests and coaching kids sports teams. This is not unusual. Most of my life seems to be filled with high school journalism competitions and kids sports. From helping run the Flipboard JEA Best of High School Journalism magazine/competition to judging journalism contests all over the country to redesigning the IHSPA contest, I have become quite involved in the world of judging and coaching a few kids sports teams on the side.
All of it has made me realize that competing to learn and creating fearless student-athletes is the player development I am working toward in my classes and for my own children.
For my day job, I advise the “award winning” Little Hawk journalism team. A team, I have challenged to try and win awards. As they have competed academically they have become sUperb at analyzing how different gaming structures work and their learning/production.
Students even joke that they all want “TROPHIES” at our end of the year party as nothing is worth doing if you don’t get a trophy. They were half-kidding, but I am pretty sure my nine-year-old son plays sports and piano for the trophies.
In nine-year-old sports the coaching idea is to compete to learn without an emphasis on winning. The belief is to develop players, create a low stress — “fun” environment where all players get to play. Some of the kids like to point out that there is a scoreboard and have some trouble with not doing everything we can to win. I tell them it is about learning and “fun” but that can be tough when talking to kids who grow up in our highly competitive world that is all about winning.
Personally, having “fun” playing sports and winning has been a struggle for most of my life. There are many times when riding a mountain bike sounds like way more fun than competing. Having said that some of the best moments of my life have come from winning championships, academic degrees and tournaments. I see that same competitiveness in my son. The first time he went to Kinnick he screamed, “LET’S GO HAWKS!” all the way up to our seats.
My son LOVES to compete and win. Who doesn’t? I guess some people.
It does scare me at times how involved Jack gets in his favorite teams winning and losing. After the Iowa vs Michigan State B10 football championship he was crushed. Any justification that they had a good season meant nothing to him. This was a disaster and Jack was beyond an emotional wreck. Driving home from Indy, I realized I think every big sports fan has a 7-year-old die hard fan in them that we suppress, but let out on rare occasions.
To provide a bit of balance I make sure to have other activities that we do that don’t involve competition.
In education, I have come to see that competition and constructive feedback is one of the most motivating models out there for students. Students love seeing what other “teams” are producing, making t-shirts and having a bit of a thrill when they win or lose.
This past week, I was proud of my high school journalism students for competing in two contests. The first competition was the SNO Distinguished Site contest. I love this contest as it is a gamified badge system. Over the last six months the editors of The Little Hawk worked to earn all the badges based on very specific and achievable standards that SNO created.
The second contest is the NSPA Pacemaker competition. This competition, from what I have learned, is based on honoring the “best of the best”. Lundgren, associate director of the NSPA said in a recent press release a bit more about what makes NSPA winners.
“Today’s best online sites are platforms for rich multimedia storytelling,” said Gary Lundgren, associate director. “Deep and diverse coverage with strong engagement and interactivity distinguish the best student-produced news sites.”
A good part of both of these competitions is that they publish the “best of the best” so teachers and students can use it as a resource. Constructive critiques and competitions are, in my opinion, a cornerstone of high achieving journalism programs.
For kids sports, the idea of player development on teams that don’t really compete to win is difficult, but it is also a proven method. Competing, but not to win is an idea that I think many parents, and fans have a problem with when they game is actually going on.
Only a few teams and parents opt for the killer, all-star team approach before middle school. Coincidentally, that is the same time when most kids quit sports.
When the game is over the standard line parents are told to tell their kids is “I enjoyed watching you play.” A good line that I use most of the time, but it does hurt the teacher in me not to give some more constructive feedback.
In the end, I guess it is the ending or seeing the seasons end every year for over a decade that has changed me. The wins and losses don’t really matter. What matters is what the students learned. I hope that in the classroom and on the field they learn how to learn, communicate and play without fear. This is the age of anxiety and fear of so many things. In contrast, there is nothing better to see a well-skilled, confident and relaxed high school graduate ready to take on the game of their life.
