Teachers say today’s students struggle more with in-person social interactions and regulating their emotions compared with previous eras, according to an Education Week article.
In response, many schools are teaching students foundational social-emotional skills. Research shows SEL can support academic development and overall well-being. Some schools are using sports to weave character-building skills throughout the school day and after school.
Youth sports, when “intentionally designed to facilitate positive youth development,” can improve young people’s social-emotional skills, such as goal-setting, empathy, self-control, self-efficacy, and socialization with peers, says Megan Bartlett, founder of the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport, a national nonprofit.
Sports help social-emotional development by combining three essentials, Bartlett says:
- The presence of adults and peers makes students feel safe, so they can let their guard down and engage in the activities;
- When students move their bodies it has a positive impact on their ability to learn and regulate their emotions; and
- Constructive forms of stress and other challenges are navigated through athletics.
The focus shouldn’t be solely on performance, Bartlett says. Mastery should be the focus –helping youth see themselves improve on a skill and see the benefits of having positive interactions with peers, she says.
The La Mesa-Spring Valley school district in California, serving about 11,000 K-8 students, created a sports league where students learn how to play a sport and how social-emotional skills can help them become better teammates on and off the field, according to district staff members Jennifer Montez, Heather Spruell, and Trinell Lewis.
Student athletes practice three times a week before school (for middle school students) or after school (for elementary students). Once a week, they have a 30-minute SEL lesson facilitated by a social worker and the coach during practice, Montez says.
SEL lessons focus on issues such as emotional regulation, building team bonds and trust, and handling wins and losses, Lewis says.
Many kids enter the program not knowing how to handle losses, and they end up blaming teammates and having meltdowns. Through the program they can better handle losses and encourage their teammates, Spruell said.
Here are tips for districts or schools that want to use sports to help students with their social-emotional development:
- Don’t overthink it, Montez says. “It’s [about] building relationships with students first and foremost,” she says. It’s also important to invest in the staff and the coaches teaching the kids the skills they need to succeed on and off the field.
- Get buy-in from principals and school social workers, Spruell says. They need to understand why SEL-focused efforts are worthwhile and what their roles will be.
- Coaches need the right kind of training, Bartlett says. “We coach the way we were coached, and you have to undo some of that in order to really focus on the right things,” she says.
Education Week
