BADGER ASSEMBLY STORIES Sports and Sports Stars Ages 7-11 Jane A. C.West and Gerald Haigh
INTRODUCTION Sports, games and athletics have given us some of our most memorable heroes and heroines. With the London Olympics in 2012 just a few years away, we hope that these stories of aspiration and inspiration will provide assemblies full of awe and wonder. This book contains 40 assemblies about sports and sporting stars for children aged seven to 11. In each theme (Sporting Stars, Olympic Heroes, Animal Heroes, National Sports, Extreme Sports, Strange Sports, Schools Sports Day, Football Mad and The Eyes of the World) you ll find a range of topics that will appeal to children. Format Each assembly begins with a couple of lines to give teachers an idea of what the assembly will be about. Then there s a detailed introduction for teachers with some more background information and a short list of any resources or props needed (there will never be more than one or two). Two or three short paragraphs introduces the assembly to the children, followed by a story about the sport or sporting star that brings out important themes like: practice, commitment, hard work, friendship, doing your best and so on. Each assembly offers a simple conclusion, plus a reflection and a prayer. A short list of follow up activities are also suggested. Further information for teachers, along with suggested books and websites are listed at the end. All the assemblies have also been matched to the SEAL aspects of learning (social, emotional and affective learning): Self-awareness Managing feelings Motivation Empathy Social skills. Although the assemblies can be used as classroom resources, these are first and foremost school assemblies, to be delivered by one person to a large mixed-age, mixed-ability audience. Each assembly is designed to be used flexibly: choose the most appropriate follow up activity or series of questions that suits your pupils and your school. We have written the assemblies to be self-supporting so you can take them straight from the shelf and use them, but if you do have the time for a little preparation first to adjust the tone and story for your school s particular situation, we would definitely recommend this approach. We hope you enjoy our Sporting Stars assemblies and we hope that enjoyment and interest in sport is transmitted to the children our sporting stars of the future. Gerald Haigh and Jane A. C.West 2
CONTENTS Page 1a Heroes from History & Today: Walking for Money: Pedestrianism [motivation] 4 1b Heroes from History & Today: A cycling hero: Edie Atkins [motivation, social skills] 8 1c Heroes from History & Today: Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali [motivation, self-awareness] 12 1d Heroes from History & Today: Oscar Pistorius aka the Bladerunner [motivation, self-awareness] 16 1e Heroes from History & Today: Jenny Wood-Allen: the London Marathon s oldest finisher [motivation, self-awareness] 20 1f Heroes from History & Today: Captain Webb [motivation, self awareness] 23 2a Olympic Heroes: Looking to 2012 [motivation, self-awareness] 27 2b Olympic Heroes: Dame Mary Peters [motivation, self-awareness] 31 2c Olympic Heroes: Jesse Owens [motivation] 34 2d Olympic Heroes: Hothousing young Athletes [self-awareness, motivation, empathy] 38 2e Olympic Heroes: The Jamaican Bobsleigh Team [motivation, self-awareness] 42 2f Olympic Heroes: The Olympics of Ancient Greece [social skills] 46 2g Olympic Heroes: Johnny Weissmuller [motivation, self-awareness] 50 2h Olympic Heroes: Olympic ballroom dancing [social skills, empathy] 53 3a Animal Heroes: Dog Sledding The Iditarod [motivation] 57 3b Animal Heroes: Horse racing:the Godolphin Arabian [empathy] 60 4a National Sports: Lacrosse [motivation] 64 4b National Sports: Cricket W G Grace and sporting celebrity [motivation, self-awareness, social skills] 68 4c National Sports: Archery in Bhutan [motivation, social skills] 71 4d National Sports: Kirikiti and Darts in Tuvalu [social skills] 75 4e National Sports: Chess [social skills] 78 4f National Sports: Petanque [social skills] 82 5a Extreme Sports: Marathon des Sables [motivation, self-awareness] 86 5b Extreme Sports: Red Bull Air Race [motivation] 89 5c Extreme Sports: Parachuting [motivation] 92 5d Extreme Sports: Ski Jumping and Ski Flying [motivation] 96 6a Strange Sports: Pedalo around the World [motivation, self-awareness] 100 6b Strange Sports: Empire State Building Race [motivation] 104 6c Strange Sports: Field Gun Race [social skills] 107 7a School Sports Day: The Bosley Boys Tug of War [social skills] 111 7b School Sports Day: The Parents Race [social skills, managing feelings] 115 7c School Sports Day: School Sports from New Zealand [motivation, social skills] 119 8a Football Mad: The History of Soccer [motivation, self-awareness] 123 8b Football Mad: Bobby Moore [motivation, self-awareness] 127 9a The Eyes of the World: They think it s all over [empathy] 131 9b The Eyes of the World: Wimbledon [motivation] 134 9c The Eyes of the World: The Grand National [motivation] 138 9d The Eyes of the World: The British Open Golf Championship [motivation] 141 9e The Eyes of the World: Badminton Horse Trials [motivation] 145 9f The Eyes of the World: Jonny Wilkinson kicks for world cup glory [motivation, managing feelings] 149 3
2F OLYMPIC HEROES:THE OLYMPICS OF ANCIENT GREECE Introduction for teachers The aim of this assembly is to introduce children to the history of the original Olympic games and help them to make connections with their own school sports and the modern Olympic games. History These Ancient Greece athletic competitions began in 776BC and ran until 393AD when the Roman Emperor Theodosius I decided to make Christianity the state religion and banned the Games. The Games took place at Olympia (not to be confused with Mount Olympus) near the town of Elis, near the modern-day town of Pyrgos. The origins of the Game are unclear although there are several myths to explain them: one tells how Pelops, later king of Olympia, won the hand of Hipppodamia with the help of the god Poseidon; another tells how tells of the hero Heracles/Hercules, who won a race at Olympia and then demanded that the race be re-enacted every four years; another myth says that the Games were started by Zeus; and yet another that Oracle of Delphi advised King Iphitos of Elis to arrange the Games to appease the gods and prevent war.as the Games were held at a sanctuary, war does indeed seem to have been suspended at these times. Whilst hearing they mythological reasons for the Games is interesting (and children love hearing all the different tales of the petty gods and goddesses wreaking havoc on human lives), the most likely origin of the Games is from funeral rites. Other important facts about the Games include: Women were only permitted to enter the competitions as owners of chariots (and they weren t allowed to watch the Games) The male athletes usually competed naked The Games were broadly international but you had to speak Greek to qualify to enter Event winners received olive branches (symbols of peace and goodwill) and were feted as heroes and often became wealthy because of their Olympic efforts. Olympic events in Ancient Greece Stadion or stade race a sprint the length of the stadium, around 200m Diaulos two lengths of the stadia, a sprint Dolichos around 20 laps, or about 3 miles, sometimes winding through the Olympia site and past important shrines Hoplitodromos a race of one or two diaulos, wearing armour weighing up to 30Kg and carrying a shield; a high status race and one that serves to show the military ethos behind many of the Games 46
Over the years other Games were added: boxing wrestling pankration similar to full contact martial arts chariot racing the pentathlon consisting of wrestling, running, long jump, javelin and discus. Props Paper plates to be discuses Picture of a javelin thrower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/javelin_throw Picture of javelin thrower statue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/discus Introduction Today we re going to be talking about different sports. Let s see how many different sports you can think of. [Take suggestions] How many of those sports do we do in our school or on sports day? [Take suggestions] Lots of the sports that we still enjoy today started with the Greeks at the original Olympic games over two and half thousand years ago. Unlike sports today, many of the sports practised then had a military purpose: to make soldiers faster and stronger and more deadly on a battlefield. I m going to read out a list of different sports. Put your hands up if you think it has its origins in the Ancient Greek Olympics: Sprinting Long distance running Throwing the discus a bit like a heavy Frisbee Throwing the javelin (which looks like a spear) The long jump Wrestling High jump. Some good guesses, although it was a bit of a rigged question because the answer is they re all sports that began in the Ancient Olympic games. THE OLYMPIC STORY Of course, we have Olympic games today, too, and in 2012 the Olympics will be held in Britain, in and around London. But this famous competition began with the Ancient Greeks. 47
To the Ancient Greeks the Olympic games weren t just a chance to compete in different sports (or to watch them), nor were they just about military training; the Olympic games were part of their religion. The Games were a form of worshipping the gods and goddesses of the Ancient Greece. Only young men were allowed to compete and girls and women weren t even allowed to watch. The god they were most likely to pray to (or even make sacrifices of food to) was Zeus. Zeus was the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and the god of the sky and thunder. He was also the enforcer of oaths of the Olympic games: athletes had to promise to compete honourably during the games and not to cheat. It s quite similar to the modern spirit of the Olympic games where athletes come together to make friendships across the world and bring together different countries in sporting competitions rather than war. Of course, that doesn t always work, but it is the true spirit of the Olympic games. Javelin and Discus Two of the popular Olympic sports were throwing the javelin and throwing the discus. Here s a picture of a javelin thrower [show picture]. The javelin is like a spear and would have been one of the weapons that Ancient Greek soldiers used when they went to war. [Ask a couple of volunteers to come to the front and help them to mime throwing a javelin.] Throwing the javelin is an Olympic sport today even though soldiers don t use spears any more. How far do you think someone can throw a javelin? [Take suggestions] The top javelin throwers can throw their javelins over 90 metres that s the length of a football pitch! Another popular sport was throwing the discus. The discus is a heavy, round disc a bit like this paper plate, but much heavier. [Ask some volunteers to come up and practise throwing the discus this could be quite noisy, but fun! Have a competition to see who can throw their discuss the furthest with the correct throw. It s not easy! Note: the discus is thrown on its inner edge as the thrower circles anticlockwise (for a right handed thrower). A Frisbee is thrown on its outer edge.] It s not as easy as it looks, is it? Athletes in the Ancient Greek Olympics would train every day for the tenth months before an Olympic competition: they were very fit, too just like Olympic athletes today. It s amazing to think that some of the sports we enjoy today were first played nearly three thousand years ago. What sports do you think people might be playing in three thousand years time? [Take suggestions] 48
CONCLUSION Well, that s all a very long way off but it won t be very long before the Olympic games will take place in Britain, continuing a tradition of sports and games that have been around for a very long time indeed. PRAYER AND REFLECTION Prayer Dear Father, Thank you for giving us minds to invent and enjoy sports and bodies and hearts to take part in them.we pray for all the athletes and organisers who help make the Olympic games so exciting. Amen. Reflection Today the Olympic games are an international event that brings together over 16,000 athletes from over 200 different countries. In a world that sometimes seems to be filled with war and fighting, can international sport and athletics really make a difference? What do you think? THINGS TO DO Find out why ancient Olympians carried weights in their hands when competing in the long jump. Although it s not allowed today it wasn t considered cheating at the time but was for a specific purpose. It is believed that the ancient Greek athlete Chionis jumped 7.05 metres using this method (over 23 feet). What is the longest jump in modern times (using modern techniques)? [Currently the record is held by Mike Powell of the USA who jumped 8.95 metres in 1991.] A useful website is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/long_jump FURTHER INFORMATION A fun website for children to learn more about the Ancient Olympic games can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/classics/classics.shtml For a list of events in the modern Olympics, go to www.olympic.org/uk/sports A useful encyclopaedia of Greek gods, goddesses and their myths www.mythweb.com 49