Newtown Public Primary Physical Education Class

This week I observed a gym class at the primary school I volunteer at every week called Newtown Public. Because of the integral role sport plays in the lives of Australians I expected the class to be much different from the gym classes I partook in during elementary school in America. The class I observed had a session on gymnastics in which the kids were required to do handstands and walk on balance beams. In my schooling experience gymnastics was not a part of the physical education curriculum but only a sport practiced outside of school by those who had enough money to participate. I found it incredibly interesting that gymnastics are practiced in Australian physical education classes not only because it has never been a part of American physical education but also because it is not one of the sports Australians pride themselves on. Another difference I noted between Australian and American physical education by talking with the teacher after class was that Newtown Public School does not have a separate physical educator but instead the classroom teachers run physical education for their individual classes, a trend becoming common in Australian schools. Light (2011) emphasizes this point by stating that “there had been a significant decline in the content and quality of physical education and sport in schools linked to a reduction in the number of specialist physical education teachers” (Light, 2011, p. 61) in the late 1980s. In this article Light (2011) further describes how physical education has become less effective in the past few generations because it is now packed into a stacked curriculum that emphasizes academics. This same problem has recently occurred in the United States, as limited budgets have cut back on physical education and at times cut physical education out of the curriculum entirely. I believe that physical education proves crucial to child development and helps combat childhood obesity, and therefore think that both Australia and the United States need to maintain strong physical education programs in all elementary schools.

Surf Lessons in Australia

During my first week in Australia I had the opportunity to partake in a surfing lesson through my program’s orientation. I heard so much about how popular surfing is in Australia before traveling to Sydney and was therefore very excited to see what it was like. When we arrived at the beach we were welcomed by surfing instructors of all ages, both male and female. I was surprised at the diversity of the instructors because surfers are stereotypically portrayed in the media as young men in excellent physical shape. All of the instructors expressed their love for surfing before beginning our lesson, and from my time spent with them I could tell that they had formed a close-knit community around the sport. In just two-and-half hours I learned to boogie board, paddle board and surf. Each of the sports required similar skills and physical strengths, but the instructors explained to us that there are many differences between the sports as well. We were told that boogie boarding is more recreational, that surfing is much more popular and competitive and that paddle boarding is a relatively new sport recently taken up by American celebrities that is also growing increasingly competitive. Before this lesson, I had taken one surfing lesson in Costa Rica, but I found it very different from my experience in Australia. In Costa Rica my family had one instructor teach us how to surf and when we arrived at the beach there were no other surf instructors around and not a surfer in sight. This instructor also focused solely on the skills associated with learning to surf, and did not address the culture of surfing in Costa Rica. Comparing these two experiences, it is clear to me how sport truly is an integral part of Australian culture. Unlike my experience in Costa Rica, I could tell from only a few hours that the instructors who taught me in Australia made up a passionate community dedicated to the sports that they love.

The Nippers at Maroubra Beach

Today we traveled to Maroubra Beach where I had the opportunity to observe children ages six and seven participate in the Nippers. I saw these children race both in the sand and in the water, as parents encouraged them by clapping and cheering on the outskirts. I noticed that there was one man running the races by yelling out instructions and blowing his whistle to signal the start of each event. From lecture I had learned that the Nippers was a community sport run by volunteers, and saw this play out at Maroubra as I observed the man running the races asking for parent volunteers to stand at both the start and finish lines. I also spoke to one of the parents who explained to me that at this age the children were not competing but were only training to get use to the water and participating for fun. He told me that the kids really enjoyed it, and that the parents had fun serving as volunteers within the Nippers community as well. As I continued to watch the children and speak with parents, I thought of how much the Nippers community reminded me of my junior softball league in the United States. In this little league almost all of the coaches were parents of children on the teams and the assistant coaches were always parent volunteers. Parents also came to every game to cheer their children on and rotated bringing snacks for the players to eat after the game. Parents and children participate in this league because of their love for the sport, for their own enjoyment and for their community participation, all of which fuel the volunteer-based Nippers in Australia. Despite these similarities, the Nippers is also very different from any sport I have seen in America because learning water safety is not as crucial and water sports are not as common due to differences in geography and climate. I loved watching the kids have fun learning about water safety and observing the liveliness of the Nippers community and look forward to my future Australian sport endeavors!

Welcome!

Hello everybody! My name is Heather Kozin and I am currently studying abroad at the University of Sydney in Australia. I am from Boston, Massachusetts and attend Boston College where I study Elementary Education and Human Development. I am a very big sports fan in the States, and love both Boston sports and Boston College sports. Growing up I participated in soccer, gymnastics, dance, softball and volleyball. Because of my love for sports, I decided to take a class about Sport and Learning in Australian Culture to get a taste of what sports are like around the world and how they differ from sports played in the United States. I have created this blog to keep track of my experiences with sport in Australia and will be posting something new every week. Welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy reading it!