We ended the 2017-2018 season with 150 team members, most of whom will be returning as we begin a new season. Each year, the Bouncing Bulldogs have a theme reinforced at every practice and class session.
Our previous theme was community outreach, and a big focus will continue to be on community outreach moving forward. The Bulldogs have been competing for a long time, but we also want to make more direct efforts to spread the sport of jump rope in communities with boys and girls who are interested in learning but may not have the resources.
Based on my experience as a PE teacher, it was instilled in me to teach boys and girls the value of skill development and movement education. My focus was on making sure that boys and girls were learning as many skills as they could learn throughout the early years of the program’s history. Now, my focus has shifted. My goal is to empower each jumper to gain the ability to take the skills they are learning and understand how to teach those skills to others. Weaving into skills with the rope, now our focus is to understand all the values you can learn from participating in a physical activity like jump rope.
A jump roper can teach skills all day, but it is also important to recognize and express the benefits of jump rope regarding physical literacy. I see a shift in our program where the thought process is becoming more about serving others with the knowledge we have, and we are open to the knowledge others will share with us. A person who picks up a jump rope and starts learning is going to enhance their physical fitness. But they are also going to enhance their character development over time when it comes to discipline, relationships and communication.
When choosing a theme, I have to ask myself as a coach, what is the personality trait of this year’s team? You have to be very aware of the values you are bringing into an environment, so how can we take all of the unique personalities within the program and bring them together with a theme?
With these considerations in mind, our theme for the 2018-2019 season is: bring your value.
Every jumper possesses a unique value and possesses a responsibility to work to better recognize their own value and share it with the world. Jumpers don’t just come to practice to be present. Jumpers come to practice to discover their value, and they can go home and share with their families why they go to practice every day as well as what they learned. They can answer the question: what did you learn that will enhance your values and make you a better person?
Our previous theme was community outreach, and a big focus will continue to be on community outreach moving forward. The Bulldogs have been competing for a long time, but we also want to make more direct efforts to spread the sport of jump rope in communities with boys and girls who are interested in learning but may not have the resources.
Based on my experience as a PE teacher, it was instilled in me to teach boys and girls the value of skill development and movement education. My focus was on making sure that boys and girls were learning as many skills as they could learn throughout the early years of the program’s history. Now, my focus has shifted. My goal is to empower each jumper to gain the ability to take the skills they are learning and understand how to teach those skills to others. Weaving into skills with the rope, now our focus is to understand all the values you can learn from participating in a physical activity like jump rope.
A jump roper can teach skills all day, but it is also important to recognize and express the benefits of jump rope regarding physical literacy. I see a shift in our program where the thought process is becoming more about serving others with the knowledge we have, and we are open to the knowledge others will share with us. A person who picks up a jump rope and starts learning is going to enhance their physical fitness. But they are also going to enhance their character development over time when it comes to discipline, relationships and communication.
When choosing a theme, I have to ask myself as a coach, what is the personality trait of this year’s team? You have to be very aware of the values you are bringing into an environment, so how can we take all of the unique personalities within the program and bring them together with a theme?
With these considerations in mind, our theme for the 2018-2019 season is: bring your value.
Every jumper possesses a unique value and possesses a responsibility to work to better recognize their own value and share it with the world. Jumpers don’t just come to practice to be present. Jumpers come to practice to discover their value, and they can go home and share with their families why they go to practice every day as well as what they learned. They can answer the question: what did you learn that will enhance your values and make you a better person?
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