Building Community Team Sports

Building community sports

Ongoing efforts at HKFYG to promote community team sports are not only about fitness and training. They are also about encouraging young people to become more deeply embedded in their community. New developments see an emphasis on positive coaching as well as training for volunteers in even more sports that offer an inclusive introduction for all youth, no matter what their abilities.

Sports included so far:

● Basketball ● Ice hockey ● Rope skipping ● Team running ● Canoeing ● Lacrosse ● Dodgeball

Focusing on:

● Physical and mental wellbeing ● Emphasizing holistic development ● Building positive skills and attitudes ● Developing team spirit ● Encouraging perseverance in success and challenge

Encouraging:

● Unanimity ● Motivation ● Innovation ● Fearlessness ● Persistence

Since it began in 2016, the Federation’s Community Team Sports programmes have come of age, with the first phase completed in 2019, new beginnings were created in 2020 which will take us through to 2023.

2016- 2019 PHASE 1 GOALS & FEATURES

The first phase of the HKFYG Jockey Club Community Team Sports (CTS) Project at HKFYG had four key components. They blended physical activity with community service, making it full of fun and special meaning.

Community team sports league

● annual district competitions ● for nearly 1,200 teams ● 9,800 participants

Community team sports academy

● to offer training in fitness concepts and sports skills ● to build team spirit, self-discipline, sense of responsibility ● to provide professional coaches and trainers The academy offered a wide range of training on various fitness concepts, sports skills, team spirit, self-discipline and a sense of responsibility.

Sportovation Community Service Scheme: Sports x Innovation

This all year-round initiative encouraged youth volunteers to form teams and create change-making service projects. Sponsored projects are featured in exhibitions.

Sports mileage mobile app

● For tracking sports activity and converting it into virtual“miles” ● “Miles” to be spent on sports lessons for underprivileged youth This educational app aimed to encourage users to cultivate regular exercise habits, as well as participating in team sports and integrating with their community.

2020-2023 PHASE 2 GOALS & FEATURES

Now called the HKFYG Jockey Club Youth Sports Development Project, the Federation’s community team sports programmes took off again last year with a second phase consisting of four elements. Its inclusive approach encourages multi-faceted participation and brings those who are not keen on competitive sport themselves into the sporting arena with new roles to play.

Two sports have been added to replace skipping and canoeing. The new emphasis is on lacrosse and dodgeball which is often popular among younger children.

Lacrosse is the oldest organized sport in North America. It was played in Canada as early as the 17th century. Hong Kong is keen to play in the next Olympics with a new six-a-side format – faster and more open than the traditional game and played by both men and women.

Read more hklax.org/load.php?id=498679

Dodgeball is on the rise in Hong Kong and it came into the limelight in 2018 when a Hong Kong girls’ team made it to the Dodgeball World Cup Finals in Madison Square Garden, New York. The aim of the game: dodge the ball that your opponent throws at you.

View some acrobatic performances at

youtube.com/watch?v=IOWzFcinqFA

Annual Competition Leagues

Just as in Phase 1 of the project, competitive events for all five sports will take place every year. Dozens of teams are entering the leagues for basketball, ice hockey, team running, lacrosse and dodgeball.

Coach training with positivity

To make sure our thousands of competitors are at top of their performance curve, training will be on offer as usual for all the five sports. This time there will be an added extra: training in positive coaching. It improves performance and promotes wellbeing. See page 12 for more details.

Volunteer training

Training in sports volunteering suits young people who already have enough testing in this pressured world. Instead of competing themselves, they discover ways of helping others, whether by distributing food and drink to marathon runners or helping special needs children find a niche on a level playing field. Volunteers like this were in hot demand this month when HKFYG Youth SPOTs saw the inaugural 21-hour run around all Hong Kong’s 18 districts with calls at all 21 HKFYG SPOTs.