BRINGING SPORTS & ACTIVITIES TO LIVING ROOMS, BACKYARDS AND CONDO BALCONIES Cindy Adair Assistant Principal, Bangkok Patana School
the hidden talents of our coaches and teachers. We’ve taken the approach that we’ll “throw it at the wall and see if it sticks” and if one student turns up and enjoys it – it was worth it!
Back in November 2019, I led four overseas
school sporting trips in South East Asia! Yes four! Four days in the office, followed by three on a plane, in a hotel and then standing by a sweaty pitch/pool or court accompanied by various teams of young student-athletes and their coaches. It was hectic, thrilling, exciting and exhausting. Little did I know at the time that those four passport stamps would be my last for a long time. The horrid cold and flu I bought back from the last trip and that I couldn’t seem to shrug off might have been a clue, but back then we didn’t think of symptoms in terms of COVID-19. Fast forward through 2020 and 2021 and I now have coaches working with our teams who’ve never attended a Championship, or in some cases a local fixture. How do you lead a Sports programme when sports and activities are banned? It’s been a period of great upheaval for many, both personally and professionally. Here are some of my reflections on leading a sports, activities and PE programme through the pandemic:
Students NEED to move and we must do whatever what-ever it takes to inspire them to do so. We’ve hosted Virtual Fun Runs, Dress-Up Workouts, Live Workouts, Pre-Recorded Workouts, Geo Cache hunts around the City. From Zumba and Dance to HIIT and Tennis Skills, you name it, we’ve tried it. I have been blown away by
You can teach old dogs new tricks! The pandemic has forced technology to the front and centre of our lives. Some of our coaches who are most at home “on the grass” now host video tutorials like seasoned YouTubers, and come knocking on my door to ask for budget approval for lapel mics and gimbals, so they can improve the quality of their LIVE lessons. Our once awkward, online meetings are now dynamic affairs as we flip in and out of break-out rooms, share our screens with confidence and compete to create the best backgrounds. The virtual equivalent of PE office banter.
Rewards work! During our most recent school closure we created a reward scheme involving virtual medals and house-points. We 16
