PlaySport supports the development of knowledge and skills that will benefit children and youth throughout their lives. PlaySport helps children and youth to thrive by enabling them to develop their physical literacy and the comprehension, capacity, confidence, and commitment needed to lead healthy, active lives.
PlaySport is linked to the Ontario Health and Physical Education (H&PE) curriculum specifically through the Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts, and Strategies strand, which provides participants with the opportunity to acquire fundamental movement skills and apply movement concepts and strategies to help them increase their comfort, confidence, competence, and proficiency with movement, thereby increasing their rates of overall physical activity and improving their health. When fun, enjoyment, and choice are part of skill development and physical activity, then participants are more likely to develop positive attitudes toward lifelong healthy, active living and value movement as a habit for life.1
Movement Competence: Movement Skills, Concepts, and Strategies
Movement Skills
- Stability Skills are those in which the body maintains a desired shape in a stationary position and includes those in which core strength is used to maintain balance and control of the body while moving through space.
- Locomotion Skills are those used to move the body from one point to another in various ways.
- Manipulation Skills involve giving force to objects or receiving force from objects as one sends, receives, or retains objects.
Movement Concepts
- Body Awareness: What body parts move and in what way?
- Spatial Awareness: Where does the body move?
- Effort Awareness: How does the body move?
- Relationship: With whom or with what does the body move?
Movement Strategies
When taking part in an activity, participants will have an ultimate goal or objective. Participants develop strategies to reach that goal and take action, using tactics to accomplish the strategies. By thinking strategically and making connections between activities, participants develop and exercise their critical and creative thinking skills, build confidence with problem solving, and increase their ability to participate in a wide variety of games and physical activities.
To learn more about Movement Competence: Movement Skills, Concepts, and Strategies, consult The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Health and Physical Education, 2019 and/or The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9-12: Health and Physical Education, 2015.
Learning through physical activity not only helps enhance participants’ physical literacy, but provides them with opportunities to build key life skills. PlaySport activities may also help children and youth develop a positive sense of self, create and maintain healthy relationships, and use critical and creative thinking processes as they make decisions and solve problems through gameplay. Acquiring these skills is an important aspect of children’s and youth’s overall healthy development and may transfer to other settings outside of physical activity while promoting holistic well-being.
By participating in a wide range of physical activities, including those that reflect the diversity of participants’ cultural backgrounds, participants will develop greater self-awareness and a sense of identity, discover the activities they enjoy most, and understand the factors that contribute to their success and enjoyment. They also learn about the benefits of physical activity for holistic well-being and mental health. This understanding and insight can help participants develop and sustain a commitment to healthy, active living throughout their lives.
Policy and Strategy Connections Across the Sectors
In addition to the Ontario H&PE curricula, there are national and provincial policies and programs dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children and youth. PlaySport can support the implementation of key policies and approaches related to the education, recreation, and sport sectors. Examples of such policies include:
- Ontario’s Daily Physical Activity Policy
- Ontario’s Helping to Create Healthy Schools Policy
- Ontario’s Student Well-Being and Mental Health: Considerations for Program Planning
- Ontario’s After-School Program
- Long-Term Athlete Development Model
References
1Beni, S., Fletcher, T., & Ní Chróinín, D. (2017). Meaningful Experiences in Physical Education and Youth Sport: A Review of the Literature. Quest, 69:3, 291–312, https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2016.1224192