“ Kindness ” in Lower School Sports
By Craig Learn
As one of the Four Pillars of the Saint David ’ s Curriculum , Athletics takes on the important responsibility of instilling in our boys the qualities of being a good man . The overriding theme of our department has always been to teach life lessons through sports and physical education . Lower School athletics serves as the building block for everything we expect a Saint David ’ s student-athlete to become , both on and off the field of play .
With our school-wide theme this year being “ Kindness ,” sportsmanship is obviously the first thing that comes to mind with respect to athletics , and for good reason . It is extremely important that we teach the boys how winning with humility and losing with grace serve as acts of kindness and respect towards ourselves , our opponents , the officials , our coaches , and our teammates . However , in Lower School athletics , particularly in grades Pre-K through second grade , where competitive sports are not the primary focus of our curriculum , kindness manifests itself in many different ways before our boys ever pick up a basketball , hockey stick , or baseball glove .
Come to the Price G y m n a s i u m during any “ Free Choice Friday ” activity with Coach White Levin , Coach
Hahn , and Coach Smolen , and you will most likely observe the Pre-Primary boys playing a game called “ Jack Frost Tag ” as their warm-up activity . During this game , a boy ( Jack Frost ) is moving throughout the gym with a blue ball trying to freeze the other children . Once tagged , the boys must freeze and make a shivering motion until a boy with a yellow ball ( the Sunshine ) comes and melts the ice to release them back into the game . To most of us , it seems like a natural occurrence in the game , that once you are frozen , you will soon be unfrozen so that you may continue to play . So , when I recently asked a Kindergarten class if they could give me an example of an act of kindness they have experienced during sports , I was surprised to hear a boy raise his hand and say “ One time , Jack Frost tagged me and the Sunshine came to unfreeze me .”
It occurred to me that the structure of the game indirectly teaches our boys to perform not-so-random acts of kindness , such as helping a friend in need . It made me think back on acts of kindness I ’ ve observed throughout my 14 years at Saint David ’ s , some more obvious than others , but all equally impactful in the development of a Saint
David ’ s “ Good Man .” Something as simple as seeing a Kindergarten boy share a bean bag with a classmate who wasn ’ t able to get one on his own
18 • Saint David ’ s Magazine