World cup Soccer
Sport Education unit
It's Soccer timeI have always enjoyed teaching soccer in my physical education classes, but it is one of those team sports that can be pretty tough for some students. It's one of those sports that kids either really look forward to or might not be so interested in. I wanted to bring in a little more excitement and student help, so I designed a World Cup Soccer Sport Education unit for my 7th and 8th grade physical education classes. Read more below to find out all the details on how the season was ran and even see the materials that were used to make this unit work really well!
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World Cup Soccer provocationI had this video playing as my students entered the gym. I hadn't explained what was going to be happening before they arrived. I wanted to get their attention and excitement with a hook. Showing video clips like this got students out of the locker room quickly, peaked their interest into what was happening, and got them pumped for what I was about to say. Provocation is great for this, because it can be that hook, that drive, and what can capture their attention for the start of a unit. They all will want to play in the World Cup!
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World cup teamsI teach 8 different classes a day, 4 of them are 7th grade and 4 of them are 8th grade. This gives me 8 classes and 4 teams each class for a grand total of 32 teams overall. In the World Cup there are 32 teams that qualify. This works out perfectly for my situation. I used the last 32 World Cup qualifying teams and assigned each class to a group. Students were soon affiliated with a team and began practicing with them. I would like to extend this to partnering up with other classes in school and learning about the different countries as well, but that is for a future unit. It's fun watching students become part of a country. They begin to form a bond with their team, right away!
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New Jobs / Job ContractsFor this sport education unit, I wanted to mix up some of the things that I had previously been trying with my classes. I decided to make new job titles and job contracts for this unit. I wanted to give each season a different feel and different job choices. If you click on the link above it will take you to a folder with all of the job contracts for the World Cup Soccer sport education unit. This time I had a captain, coach, equipment manager, trainer, scorekeeper, assistant coach, journalist, rally starter, and referee. These ended up working out really well for my classes!
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New Coaching ApproachI also decided to take a new approach on how to get materials and information out to my students. During my first attempt at a sport education season, I handed everything out digitally through Google Drive and Google Classroom. This approach worked well to get students to look at the materials at home, but I knew that some of them didn't. I wanted a new approach that would allow all students to learn during the season and in class. I decided to go with a folder, paper, and pencil approach. This ended up being very successful and I still don't require all jobs to follow what I print (many coaches have great ideas of drills / activities / games), but it allows for someone to follow along if they aren't sure about what to do next for their job. It also gives them the ability to look during class and not have to prepare before class at home. Both options have worked well for me, so make sure to choose what might work out best for you and your situation.
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TGfU soccer resources
If you are interested using a different model for teaching this sport education unit, then take a look at the link above in the title of this section. This has all my favorite invasion games using a TGfU approach. These activities would be a perfect match for this sport education season. I haven't used it yet, because I haven't found a great way to share the videos and lesson ideas with my students, but you could pick and choose some of them to teach. It would be a great way to bring the TGfU model and the sport education model together in one unit!
Season Schedule & PostseasonStudents will participate in a preseason, season, and postseason during the course of the World Cup Soccer sport education season. That means that for 3-4 days teams will be practicing, preparing, and getting ready for competition. There can be dates and times for soccer scrimmages or preseason games, with practice time and scrimmage time decided by the teacher. Once you get into the official season schedule it can be up to you how many games and how often you play, depending on your schedule or curriculum map. I just schedule 3 season games with a practice in between each game, so teams can continue to improve between each game. At the end of the season, I do have an opportunity to send 1 team from each class to the postseason. Our 7th and 8th grade students have lunch recess everyday, and we have the postseason during that time. I will play a quarterfinal game for 7th & 8th grade (this takes two days with two fields), a semi-final game (7th grade on one field and 8th grade on another), and then finally the World Cup Championship game the last day (7th vs 8th). This is always exciting and I try to pump everyone up by making announcements each day!
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World Cup Soccer SeasonCheck out the video on the right to see a quick overview of what the entire sport education season looked like in my classes. This shows you a little bit from each phase of the season and into the postseason. I hope you enjoy watching and like seeing the season in action!
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