Supporting Your Children in Sport: Laying the Foundations for a Lifetime [Online Course]

Description

Do you have children involved in organized sport? Or are you thinking about sports as an option? Have you got a child that just can’t sit still? Maybe someone who just loves to express themselves by moving? Or does your child have difficulty engaging in physical activity? Then this course is for you. Gillian Corke, Coach from the Heart Ltd, is UK-based educator, mother of 3 active kids, AMI-trained Montessori Assistant, Positive Discipline Trainer Candidate, and has a lifetime of experience within the world of amateur and professional sports. It is from this vantage point – inside and out – that Gillian sets out this exclusive course for the Institute of Child Psychology.

In this course, you will get the latest, evidence-based information on practical ways you can support your children in the home. You will have the opportunity to explore the Coach Paradigm and the Player Paradigm. Crucially, discover how early movements set the scene for future skills and learn how – when supported securely – the relationships we build with children and sport are in the first instance, not ones geared towards trophies and medals, but rather self-esteem, social skills and community cohesion.

With unique contributions from sporting and health professionals around the world, Gillian will take you on a journey to learn more about how sport can support healthy development over the lifespan. Throughout the course, you will have opportunities to understand your own perceptions of movement and sport, including interpretations of your feelings and the choices you make for yourself and your children. In addition, you will learn the value of objective observation with movement – because where we can make the difference as adults is bringing our awareness to ourselves, our bodies, our thoughts, feelings and snap decisions – then making a conscious choice to add a pause before we act.

The last 15 years have seen a series of scandals and revelations within international youth sport highlighting systemic failings and misinterpretations of what it means to be an athlete and to be resilient. Some of the most high profile include the USA Gymnastics / Larry Nassar investigation (USA Department of Justice), The Whyte Review of British Gymnastics (Whyte QC), Penn State / Sandusky (Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan LLP), and the treatment of Kamila Valieva at the 2022 Winter Olympics (Abad). For coaches, volunteers or parents looking to make a difference in children’s lives, part of the journey from negative mental health outcomes to genuine positive resilience is making space to acknowledge that these failings have happened and that we want to do something different.

The mission of Coach from the Heart Ltd to join with National Governing Bodies, sports clubs, coaches, parents and volunteers to empower healthy cultural change from within. To deliver 21st Century pastoral skills CPD that co-create pathways to healing from harmful psychological and physical treatment, to connection, health and resilience.

OBJECTIVES

• Empower parents and carers with information to support their child’s physical, emotional, social and cognitive development
• Shine a light on different practices within the sporting world and consider holistic, developmentally appropriate options
• Explore the role of secure attachment and relationship in the sporting journey and its outcomes
• Highlight the importance of observation, active listening and responding to childrens’ cues
• Participants will reflect on their own experiences of sport and movement as child and how that might impact them today
• Find practical, affordable, attainable ways of incorporating movement into everyday life
• Discover how connection, belonging and contribution can be fostered through sport
• Explore the Coach Paradigm and Player Paradigm as identified by Reuben Jongkind