Being a Good Sport

"Yay, our team won, woohoo! We did it. Ha! You lost!" This reaction is pretty one-sided and not very friendly. Proud - but also a tad boastful.

"Yay great work, congratulations, good game!"

These are the kinds of things we often hear and definitely promote when we play games, sports or engage in friendly team activities at Kingsley.

It is often difficult for children to understand the concept of being happy for the other team, or a classmate or anyone else for that matter. Let's face it most children are in the "me" phase for several years. They see winning as "good" and losing as "bad". Being a good sport and explaining the concept is an important piece in helping kids understand that winning, although it feels great and we should celebrate, is not the only thing that matters. On the flip side, losing is not about being bad or poor at an activity, but a process of getting better at something.

When we cheer on a friend, does that mean we do not try our best at the activity? Absolutely not. It means that we put our best foot forward, and if someone else happens to win an award or a game then it does not change how well we performed. Being happy for someone else can be a good feeling.

Being a good sport whether winning or not is an important message that we share with our students. It is one of our character traits that is a difficult one to land but when it does, our kids shine!

We spent a morning in age-blended groups playing games and trying a number of activities while promoting being a good sport. Take a look!