High Performance Kids?

The big buzzwords in rugby circles these days are "High Performance". We have High Performance Plans, High Performance Coaches, High Performance Centers.

So I googled it.

One of the most surprizing results was the Discovery Education: High Performance - Sports. It talks not about VO2 max measuring, not about hip-dominance and hamstring chains, not about micro-cycles or high intensity intervals.

The particular lesson plan is designed for 6-8th graders. It might also be relevant to 20-40 yr old men and women.

In a nutshell, the kids have to work in groups to invent a new "game" (sport). They have a list of everyday objects (some sports objects, some not), and they have time. They need to define and shape this sport, and then they need to teach it to the other kinds. It's all broken down into a detailed lesson plan, complete with pre, in, and post session tasks for the kids. One of the most interesting set of tasks is this particular post-session task:

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Students will then need to discuss and write about how their game affects a person mentally, physically and socially (mind, body and spirit). This can be done in their groups with one report submitted per group. Students should break up responsibilities of the report into sections with each member of the group writing one section (this will all depend on the number of students per group). Report responsibilities can be broken up as follows:

• Introduction (giving how the game was created, objects used to play, name, rules, how the game is played, etc.)
• Mental affects from the game
• Physical affects from the game
• Social affects of the game
• Conclusion (summarizing group findings, outcomes, feelings, etc.)

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Afterward, there are the following discussion questions:

1.	How does the pressure of a sport affect you mentally?

2.	How does the discipline of a sport affect the way you approach other things in life?

3.	What is it about any sport that keeps you interested?

4.	Why is it important to prepare yourself mentally for an event?

5.	Do you ever feel so drained of energy that it takes away the fun of the sport?

6.	Do you ever feel the need to keep going in a sport even though you are hurt or not 100%?

7.	What are the pressures like to loose or gain weight while playing a sport?

8.	How can physically enhancing drugs help or hurt you?

9.	What does it mean to be a team player?

10.	What are the feelings experienced when the whole team contributes to the win?

11.	What do you learn from loosing?

12.	How do you learn to depend on your teammates?

Pretty cool stuff ...