EDUCATIONAL Athletics
Courage , creativity and citizenship are at the heart of Crofton House ’ s values . For students in the Junior School , various skills under the courage , creativity and citizenship umbrella are fostered in the CHS Athletics program ’ s sports and co-curriculars like Lunch Leagues , the Badminton Classic , and the track and field and cross-country teams .
“ This is educational athletics — we ’ re building character traits : resilience and courage , being brave , being a leader , being kind , being a good teammate , being gracious and dependable , and showing integrity , honesty , self-control and selfregulation ,” said Ms Cohee , Program Coordinator , Athletics & Recreation , Junior School . “ Being a part of athletics is learning to be adaptable , to deal with failure , to be successful as a team and to be gracious .”
These skills support students ’ ongoing growth into strong , compassionate leaders across and beyond CHS . We spoke to current Senior School students about their Junior School athletics experience and the skills they still see carrying them forward from those years .
CONFIDENCE , CURIOSITY & DETERMINATION
Junior School athletics staff encouraged Carina , a Grade 12 student and a Sports Captain , to try different events , rather than stay in her comfort zone of distance running . That push supported Carina ’ s natural determination to master new events and her overall confidence in track events — which culminated in a strong sense of leadership over the Junior School track and field team .
“ In Junior School , they wanted to give everyone equal opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills , especially with the relay teams I was able to help my team and be a role model for them , not skills-wise , but in bringing the team together ,” said Carina .
Those values translated into her Senior School experience , where she participated in track and field , tennis and volleyball .
“ I was the youngest on the team , but because of those soft skills instilled in me in Junior School track , I was a lot more open to the experience ,” Carina said of her tennis experience . “ I was more enthusiastic about playing with people who had more experience than me . I could look up to them , but I knew that we were also equals — as I was able to believe in myself .”
Grade 12 student and Stage Band Captain Abby had a similar confidence and curiosity boost , thanks to her Junior School athletics experiences in cross-country , track and field , volleyball , Ultimate Frisbee , and the various Physical & Health Education sports . That curiosity drove Abby to try multiple clubs and activities in Senior School , including Stage Band and Model United Nations .
“ One of the things that I took away from the Junior School Athletics program was just how important it is to try everything . It taught me that you never know what you ’ re going to like until you try it !”
INDIVIDUAL & TEAM RESILIENCE
STEM Club Co-Captain and Grade 11 student Natasha spoke of the resilience she learned in Junior School basketball , volleyball , Ultimate Frisbee , and track and field . A particular track and field moment when she put that resilience into practice still sticks out . While running in an 800-metre race , her shoe fell off ; instead of giving up , Natasha ran the rest of the race with one shoe .
“ I had worked so hard all those years for this one race . I didn ’ t want to let myself or my teammates down ,” she explained . That mental toughness — that resilience — is one of the most important lessons from her time in Junior School athletics .
As STEM Club Co-Captain , she sees that resilience reflected in her oversight of club hackathons . This year , the club had to build an app to solve a problem in one event . “ We had a lot of hurdles , and we faced time constraints . To reach our goal , we had to work through these hurdles within a set amount of time by talking to our mentors and the teachers who had helped us along this journey to communicate what the struggles were and what we were trying to do .”
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