Introducing alternative physical education

Student physical education teachers were introduced to two alternative sports at the start of their course as a way to engage their pupils: Street Surfing and Kin-Ball.

Course leader Dr Gary Stidder said: “If we want young people to be more active we have to offer them choice and voice when it comes to curriculum decisions in physical education and find out what their activity preferences are.”

Street Surfing

Many young people are physically active out of school engaging in activity on wheels yet very few schools have recognised this as a means to increase pupils activity levels and tend to ignore the potential of introducing these activities into their physical education lessons.

The street surfing workshop introduced a new ‘on wheel’ activity to use alongside more traditional ones such as mountain biking, BMX biking, skateboarding, in-line skating and micro-scootering.

Dr Gary Stidder said: “Young people are participating in very different physical activities outside of school compared to the types of activities they are taught as part of the formal physical education curriculum.

“Many young people take part in physical activities on wheels in their leisure time and street surfing is just one example of how the physical education curriculum can be more appealing to a broader population of pupils in schools.

“Indeed, it is claimed that street surfing is the physical education teacher’s secret weapon.”

Kin-Ball

Kin-Ball was created by Mario Demers, a physical education professor in Quebec, Canada, in 1986.

Kin-Ball is a hugely popular team sport and it is estimated there are 3.8 million participants globally. It is played by three teams of four using the distinctive kin-ball which is 1.2m in diameter.

The team in possession of the ball, shout out “Omnikin” followed by the colour of another team and hits the ball. The team whose colour was called must stop the ball from hitting the ground; if it fails to do so the other two teams get a point. If a team stops the ball from hitting the ground, it has 10 seconds to hit the ball to another team, using the same procedure.

Dr Gary Stidder said: “Not only is Kin-Ball something different, it is fully inclusive for all pupils and is a great alternative to other team games traditionally taught in schools.

“Many of the group practices can promote team work, communication, problem-solving and decision-making and can be applied to the game itself.”

You can see the students in action in this short film which was created by student Rory Thompson: